PRESBYTERIAN 

MEN 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




HON. WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 

MEMBER OF NATIONAL COUNCIL 



PRESBYTERIAN 

MEN 



ADDRESSES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE 

FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION, 

PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD OF 

AMERICA, HELD AT ST. LOUIS, 

MO., FEBRUARY 21, 22, 23,1911 



THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 
OF AMERICA 

509 So. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1911 



•#• 



^° 6 






Copyright, 1911, 

by 

The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America, 

Chicago, 111. 



Published May, 1911. 



9 



©CIA 289851 



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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Hon. William Jennings Bryan Frontispiece 

Preparatory Service: 

The Brotherhood of the Body of Christ. William 

Hiram FoulJces, D. D 9 

In Memory of Our Brethren Departed. Prayer by 

Karris H. Gregg, D. D 32 

The Communion Service. Charles Little, D. D 36 

The Men and Eeligion Forward Movement: 

The Men and Eeligion Forward Movement. Clarence 

A. Barbour, D. D 49 

Men and the Kingdom. James I. Vance, D. D 67 

Open Conference. Judge Selden P. Spencer 84 

Prayer and Intercession. John Timothy Stone, D. D. . 102 

The Local Church and the Brotherhood : 

The Brotherhood and Individual Eesponsibility in the 

Church. Maitland Alexander, D. D 115 

The Farmer's Club in the Country Church. Warren H. 

Wilson, Ph. D 127 

Eeport of the National Council. Charles S. Holt 143 

Open Conference on Brotherhood Activities: 

Things Accomplished. Ira Landrith, D. D 159 

Brotherhood Ideals. W. E. Jones, D. D 182 

Present Day Problems. Thomas E. Hodges 196 

The Brotherhood and the Bible. Charles E. Erdman, 

D. D 213 

The Life That Wins Charles Gallaudet Trumbull 227 

The Errand of America. James D. Rankin, D. D 247 

The Fruits of the Tree. Hon. William J. Bryan 275 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 

The Brotherhood and the Boy: page 

The Boy Problem. Eugene C. Foster 307 

Open Conference on Boys' Work. Eugene C. Foster. . 316 

World Wide Vision and Opportunity: 

The Distinctive Trnth of Christianity. Andrew V. V. 

Raymond, D. D 331 

The Missionary Appeal. A. W. Ealsey, D. D 345 

Christian Civilization. Hon. Chase S. Osoorn 360 

Closing Messages of the Convention: 

Harvesting the Eesults of the Convention. Nolan Bice 

Best 373 

The Future of the Brotherhood. Walter Getty 383 

The Conversion of Power Into Work. John Douglas 

Adam, D. D 386 

Appendix : 

Program 405 

Minutes of the Convention 410 

Convention Statistics 424 



PREPARATORY SERVICE 



"THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BODY OF 
CHRIST." 

BY REV. WILLIAM HIKAM FOULKES, D.D., 
PORTLAND, OEE. 

My Brethren in Christ : — It may seem to be 
an unwarranted license that joins two such dis- 
tinct realities as "Brotherhood" and "Body" 
in one phrase. The paradoxical form of my 
theme will not long interfere with the disclosure 
of its real meaning. The figure of the body is 
scientifically dignified, scripturally worthy and 
beautifully symbolical. Even though the mili- 
tant note will be doubtless the loudest and clear- 
est that will be sounded during this gathering, 
there is one more fundamental; for, one day, 
"wars shall cease and ancient frauds shall fail" 
and "He must reign until He has put all enemies 
in subjection under His feet. ' ' In that great day, 
He will present to His Father the host of the 
redeemed as His glorified body. It is the out- 
shining truth, concealed in this common concep- 
tion of the Church as the body of Christ that has 
given me boldness to bring you a message today 
concerning The Brotherhood of the Body of 
Christ. 



10 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

At the outset stands this first axiom challeng- 
ing our acceptance. 

(1) The Eeal Belation of Christian 
Brothers is a Corporate Unity in the Body of 
Christ. 

The atoms of a substance have a chemical 
unity in the grosser molecule; the cogs of a 
machine have a mechanical unity in the com- 
pleted mechanism ; but the highest unity of all is 
the corporate unity of the many members in 
one body. A body, whose members realized 
their highest unity in chemical terms, would be 
a corpse; in mechanical terms, an automaton; 
but in corporate terms it would be an organism, 
" composed of different organs or parts per- 
forming special functions that are mutually de- 
pendent and essential to life." 

This unity, being larger, includes the others, 
which are lesser. The body has chemical con- 
stituents and passes through a complex chemical 
process constantly ; the body includes a mechan- 
ism with articular and muscular elements that 
operate under the universal laws of physics and 
mechanics, but the body is a living organism. 
As such it subordinates the chemical and me- 
chanical elements to its own organic function, 
and bids chemistry become the maid-servant and 
mechanics the man-servant of Conscious Life. 

The real relation of Christians in the body of 
Christ is not infinitesimally and impersonally 
chemical, with individuality absorbed ; it is not 
automatically and inexorably mechanical, with 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 11 

freedom, and therefore personality, lost. It is 
rather corporate. In such a unity the several 
parts become individually perfected in the per- 
fection of the whole ; the various organs become 
vitally energized by the forces of life which flow 
through the entire organism ; the many members 
become united in the identity of the one body. 

Is Jesus Christ essentially real? That de- 
pends more vitally upon you and me, my 
brothers, than we may be willing to admit. 
With His essential pre-existent Godhead ; with 
the glory that He had with the Father before 
the world was, we have little to do ; but we have 
everything to do with His divine-human reality 
now: we have everything to do with the glory 
that He has among men and is eternally to have 
before the whole universe in the ages to come. 
The reality of Jesus Christ upon earth is a 
corporate reality. Our exalted head is glorified 
in the body of His humiliation, which is still 
being fashioned upon earth. Is Jesus Christ 
corporately real? That depends upon His body, 
which we are. It depends upon you and me. 
Our chiefest end is to glorify God by making 
Jesus Christ real. 

It is not alone perilous — it is tragic, for Chris- 
tian men to seek any other and deeper unity 
than the corporate unity of Jesus Christ. That 
peril confronts us, and, in some places, the cur- 
tain is all but rung up on that tragedy. The 
peril is imminent and ominous before the great 
Brotherhood movement. It has come insidi- 



12 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

ously, in part, from the example of the great 
fraternal societies, whose successes have almost 
filled ns with envy. Their rapid rise and their 
definite appeal, if not to the sensuous, at least 
largely to the social instincts of men, have be- 
come a lure to those eager for the outstanding 
progress of Christian Brotherhood. We need 
seldom, if ever, antagonize these various socie- 
ties; but we are in grave peril of capitulating 
to them. Their genius is not our glory. So- 
cieties that get their names and their ruling 
principles from the names and characteristics of 
birds, beasts and fishes may have a place in the 
development of fraternalism, but the Brother- 
hood of men in Jesus Christ is of a different 
order. An echo of Paul's resurrection rhapsody 
will be consonant with this truth. * ' God giveth 
us bodies as it hath pleased Him, and to each 
seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the same 
flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another 
flesh of beasts and another flesh of birds, and 
another flesh of fishes. There are also celestial 
bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of 
the terrestrial is one and the glory of the celes- 
tial is another." 

0, Brotherhood of Christian men, "there are 
celestial bodies and bodies that are terrestrial," 
but the glory of our Brotherhood is celestial, 
and not terrestrial. God has not fashioned for 
us a body of birds or beasts or fishes, but He has 
fashioned us into the body of His only begotten 
Son. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 13 

Our peril in these formative days of Brother- 
hood activity, before the movement has become 
fully conscious of its mission and become com- 
pletely incarnate in an organization, is not that 
of apparent failure. Our dire danger is that of 
seeming success, gotten upon a basis that is 
radically wrong. Brotherhood suppers and ban- 
quets are fine, but they are not fundamental. We 
are in peril of substituting the chemical and the 
mechanical union for vital unity. 

The Presbyterian Brotherhood needs to be 
kept from being either a comedy or a tragedy. 
There are men in the Church, wise and conscien- 
tious, no doubt, who are pursuing the policy of 
holding aloof from the Brotherhood because 
they fear a farce. They would not think of 
coming to a Brotherhood convention because 
they are sure it will only issue eventually in a 
fiasco. They see at long range, 

' ' The Brotherhood band of two thousand men 

March up Convention Hill and then march clown again. ' ' 

The fears of these timid folk are unfounded. 
The Brotherhood movement is too secure in its 
footing to be laughed off the stage as a farce. 
It is not the comedy of a dwindling, dissipated 
enthusiasm that we need to fear so much as the 
tragedy of misdirected, unspiritualized energy. 
There are enough men who believe in the 
Brotherhood in the Church at large, and in most 
local churches, to give it momentum enough to 
carry itself through the Church. It is a move- 



14 THE PRESBYTERIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

nient, a force that must be reckoned with. Cyn- 
ical pastors and captious laymen cannot stay 
its progress. To all such critics without, as 
well as to the hosts of enthusiastic men within 
its ranks, the Brotherhood lifts up pleading 
hands. "Brothers of the body of Christ, I can 
find my reason for being, my raison d'tre only 
in the embodiment of Jesus Christ upon earth. 
This is my high calling ; to bring to the men of 
the Church the inescapable conviction that they 
are members of the body of Christ, and to lead 
them in their mutual exercise as many members 
of one body. ' ' Shall this plea of the very genius 
of our great movement be unheard by those 
without and unheeded by those within? 

II. Our Christian Brotherhood Not Alone 
Finds its Corporate Unity in the Body of 
Christ, but It Is Under the Law of Perfect 
Obedience to the Will of Its Exalted Head. 
Than this my lips could utter no more imper- 
ious truth. The glory of the body is submission 
to the purpose of the head. The more perfect 
the obedience, the more complete the glory. 

We can well afford, this sacramental after- 
noon, before coming into the heart of this great 
convention (wherein we doubtless will be dis- 
cussing many of the weaknesses, as well as 
much of the power of the body) to contemplate 
anew the infinite perfection of our exalted head. 
The Lord Jesus Christ, who by His Incarnation 
and Passion entered so perfectly into our hu- 
manity that He became literally the head of a 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 15 

redeemed race, by the power of His Resur- 
rection and his Ascension was exalted by the 
will of God Almighty, and "was made to sit at 
His right hand in the heavenly places, far above 
all rule and authority and power and dominion, 
and every name that is named, not only in this 
world, but also in that which is to come, all 
things having been put in subjection under His 
feet : and, by that same will of God, was given to 
be head over all things to the church which is 
His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in 
all." (Eph. 1:21-23.) The inexhaustible re- 
sources of the ascended Lord, the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge which have been hidden 
in Him, the fulness of the Father which dwells 
in Him, all of these, my brothers, constitute the 
essence of our life : they are our life ; He is our 
life, for, "To us to live is Christ." If Christ 
lives on earth He must live in men. He wills, 
exalted upon His mediatorial throne, to live on 
earth. He energizes His body. He communi- 
cates His will to every member. He gives His 
life in its immeasurable fulness to His body, as 
yet imperfect. He seeks to vitalize and to keep, 
humanly and divinely quickened, both the sens- 
ory and motor nerves of every member. He is 
no mystical Buddha upon the throne of a con- 
sciousless Nirvana ; sensitive to no want of any; 
desirous of supplying no need of any ; removed, 
passionless; aloof. He is, rather, the tireless, 
redemptive energy of Almighty God, incarnate 
in the only begotten Son, passionate for the lost. 



16 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

Is the heart of any great commercial system 
busy? Do its electrical nerves quiver under the 
multitude and variety of the commands and in- 
hibitions that radiate from yonder nerve center? 
Shall we deny to our exalted Head, to whom 
physical forces are the least significant of all, 
that divinest of all joys — the capacity for infi- 
nite service without tiring? 

The Brotherhood of the Body of Christ leaves 
no doubt as to how it is governed. Humanly, we 
may prefer Cabinets or Councils, Presidents or 
Moderators, Bishops or Presbyters. If we be- 
long to the Exalted Brotherhood we will be 
under the most inexorable sovereignty the world 
has ever known, its single law, "Perfect obed- 
ience to the will of its head." "But this is 
tyranny!" It depends upon the head. But if, 
Lord of life, to enter fully into the fellowship 
of thy body on earth means tyranny, then 
tyrannize us speedily and effectually, subdue us 
graciously unto thyself ! Teach us the glory of 
human wills that have been so wondrously re- 
vived by a healing touch like one of old, that 
they can transmit and transmute the will of 
Jesus Christ into daily thought and action and 
into eternal life ! 

Turning for a moment to the field of human 
government in the quest for a word, one cannot 
escape the conclusion when his quest is crowned 
with success that the word is universally odious, 
"Anarchy!" There are bold and brutal folk 
who want to prey upon others, who hate all 



ST. LOtJXS CONVENTION tf 

that is good, with all the passion of ignoble 
souls. Apart from this dangerous but self- 
destructive band of iconoclasts, there is little 
friendship for the word anarchy. To me it is a 
more loathsome word than hated, for I always 
see it first in its physiological aspect, — "head- 
less!" — a ghastly trunk, a pallid torso, a human 
body robbed of its glory by the guillotine and 
made the most gruesome thing on earth. 

There is no single sight which makes the 
angels in heaven shudder more grievously than 
that of the body of Christ on earth attempting 
to live without perfect and vital union with its 
exalted head. A Brotherhood of men, naming 
"the name that is above every name," but bow- 
ing the knee to Mammon, morning, noon and 
night, — living for hours and days, yes, even 
weeks at a time, without having had conscious 
communion with the Eisen Lord ; running here 
and there and everywhere on a thousand greater 
and lesser concerns, but not at all on the King's 
business, — is not this spiritual anarchy of the 
deadliest sort? 

0, my brothers, the very essence of our 
Brotherhood movement is to give us fellowship 
in our obedience to the will of our exalted head. 
Let no brother think himself above the provision 
of this sovereign law ; and let no brother think 
his commonest action beneath its searching, 
sweeping imperative. 

So far, I have suggested two fundamental 
truths concerning the Brotherhood of the Body 



18 THE PKESBYTEBXAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

of Christ. First, that the true relation of Chris- 
tian brothers is a corporate unity in the body 
of Christ. Second, that every member of the 
body is under the law of perfect obedience to 
the will of the exalted Head. Let me suggest a 
third underlying reality. 

III. The Beotheehood of the Body of 
Cheist Must Gathee Togethee A Myeiad of 
Oegans in the One Oeganism, Many Bloods in 
the One Blood, Many Membees in the One 
Body. 

If the implications of modern science be true, 
then the whole cosmic process has converged 
toward one point, so far as the earth is con- 
cerned, the creating of a congenial atmosphere 
in which to bring forth the finished product, the 
human body. There it stands at the apex of 
the whole scheme. Many colors, many forms, 
many fashions, but one body, the habitat of 
primal humanity. From this high vantage 
point, which is but a foot-hill of the eternal 
range of the mountains of God's glory, I bid 
you look to the celestial heights and catch the 
full-orbed vision of that mightiest peak of all, 
with its glistening head far above the clouds in 
the azure of heaven, and see its body, — the habi- 
tat of a redeemed humanity, fashioned out of 
many soils and through many ages, the body of 
the exalted Christ. This is the end of the whole 
cosmic process. When Christ shall have com- 
pleted His body on the earth ; when every mem- 
ber shall have been brought into conscious rela- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 19 

tion with the head, when every organ shall have 
responded to the purpose of the great organism 
and the will of the head, when all bloods shall 
have been touched by the holy cross and shall 
have been transformed into the blood of life; 
then the head that was once wounded shall be 
eternally healed and shall present unto His 
Father a glorified body, — not having spot or 
wrinkle or any such thing, but filled with His 
own eternal fulness. 

Today, my brethren, we are doubly sharers 
in this marvellous process by which Christ is 
preparing an eternal habitation for Himself. 
We are both a part of the proces so far as our 
individual lives and service are concerned, and 
also with respect to our relation to the members 
not yet conscious of their function. 

Let us think for a moment of our own con- 
cern in the body of Christ. The thought which 
almost overpowers my spiritual consciousness 
at times is the one which I suggest first. The 
Lord has a definite function for me to perform 
as an organ in the organism to His body. He 
depends upon me to fulfill that function accord- 
ing to His will, not for my sake alone, but for 
His body's sake. If I do not discharge my duty, 
if there is no organic health in me, then the 
whole body of Christ suffers. It is true that 
not every member may be conscious of my lapse, 
my atrophy, or palsy or paralysis, but the body 
as a whole suffers loss, and the Lord Jesus 
Christ suffers pain in me. On the other hand, 



20 THE PEESBYTE&IAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

just as surely, if I do fulfill my function accord- 
ing to the will of my glorified Lord, the whole 
body of Christ shares in the blessing which 
flows from the health of even an insignificant 
member like me ; and, best of all, the Lord Jesus 
Christ has joy in me. Another corollary, eas- 
ily deducible from the third axiom, "that the 
Body of Christ must gather together a myriad 
of organs in the one organism of His body," is 
that no two organs can ever fulfill the same func- 
tion. Of all unseemly contests over position 
and precedence, none is more shameful to those 
who engage in it, and more painful to Christ, 
than the rivalry between different sections of 
Christendom. The full force of His intercessory 
prayed is never grasped until we couple His two 
petitions for the unity of His followers together, 
"that they all may be one; even as thou Father 
art in me and I in thee, that they also may be 
in us, that the world may believe that thou didst 
send me. And the glory which thou hast given 
me I have given unto them; that they may be 
one even as we are one ; I in them and thou in 
me, that they may be perfected into one; that 
the world may know that thou didst send me, 
and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me." 
The unity for which He prayed is not primarily 
that we may have comfort in an undivided fel- 
lowship, but that through it the world may know 
that Christ is sent of God and is one with God. 
We are not merely hindering our own organic 
development in the body of Christ, but we are 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 21 

putting the Son of God to an open shame and 
are wounding if not crucifying again our glori- 
fied Head. By the unhappiness of our divi- 
sions, we are missing the force of the fulness of 
Christ's blessing for ourselves and keeping it 
from others. 

Yet, but a moment ago, I dared to assert that 
"no two organs can fulfill the same function." 
It is the consciousness of the truth of this de- 
duction applied to the body of Christ that would 
practically make impossible such jealousy and 
rivalry. The hand would be content to be a 
hand, and would not try to keep the eye from 
seeing. The right foot would be content to walk 
straight forward and not to trip the left. The 
ear would not burn with envy because it could 
not smell, and the eye would not shut itself 
because it could not talk. There is no such 
thing as uniformity among the members in the 
body of Christ. There is unity, but not uni- 
formity. 

One practical difficulty that besets many a 
local Brotherhood is that which ensues when a 
series of methods and duties devised to meet 
other conditions entirely, are imposed upon a 
group of men temperamentally and otherwise 
unfitted to use those methods to discharge those 
duties. As leaders of the Brotherhood, men of 
the St. Louis Convention, we have a higher func- 
tion than the taking back home of a plan, with 
its intricate parts, and the trying to work that 
plan out on the members of the home church 



22 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Brotherhood. If that is the best we can do, we 
will be only makers of a great manikin, putting 
hands where feet ought to be, and asking eyes to 
hear and ears to talk and tongue to see. If we 
can, on the other hand, carry back to our 
brothers in Christ, — blood-brothers by the holi- 
est and best blood on earth and in heaven — this 
great ideal and make it real, — "We are every 
one members or organs in the body of Christ, 
We are under the law of obedience to do His 
will. Let us come together in the holy fellow- 
ship of His blessed body on earth and find our 
functions, grow into the proper knowledge and 
discharge of our duties, and thus become vitally 
joined to our Head," we will have done more 
for our local churches than by a hundred work- 
able plans for large meetings and interesting 
banquets, and novel successes. 

The axiom under which I have been reasoning 
turns its face away from us, as well as toward 
us. It points to others. Since "the Brother- 
hood of the Body of Christ must gather together 
a myriad organs in the one organism, many 
bloods in the one blood, many members in the 
one body," it surely follows that the body will 
never be perfected until the myriad organs are 
gathered ; restored, if they are lost ; quickened, 
if they are lifeless; healed, if they are hurt; 
bound up, if they are bruised, and brought back 
again unto the fellowship of the body of Christ. 
This is also the mission of the Brotherhood, — to 
help complete and perfect the body of Christ on 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 23 

earth. The figure opens before me illimitable 
vistas into a great and precious truth. Would 
that I had time to enter its region with you 
today. Let me only suggest the vision of that 
vista nearest at hand. If we, as members of 
the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America want 
to get very near the heart of our Master, we 
can do it in no way better than this. Make our 
outstanding task this ensuing year the restoring 
of lost and wayward brothers to the fellowship 
of Christ. What a multitude of our fellows 
have lost heart and faith. How many "ex" 
Sunday-school superintendents and elders and 
deacons there are ! It is strikingly true in the 
great Northwest, but it is true everywhere. 
Must we not believe that He who went about 
touching blind eyes unto sight, maimed limbs 
unto service, dumb tongues unto praise, will fol- 
low us with a rare blessing as we seek for their 
sake, and for His sake, the lost members of the 
body of Christ? 

Is this too much for the Brotherhood of the 
Body of Christ to do? Does not the human 
body with its marvellously interactive systems 
and organs challenge us? When disease grips 
any member, any organ of the body, does not 
the heart rush its life-giving blood in abundance 
to the spot ; do not the lungs respond valiantly 
to the call "more oxygen ! more oxygen ! ' ' ? Do 
not all the organs and channels of all the sys- 
tems, circulatory, lymphatic and eliminatory, 
with all the rest, rush relief to the rescue of 



24 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

\\ »"' i r 

every sore spot? It must be so in the body of 
Christ on earth. "If we say we love God and 
hate our brother, we are liars. (I. John 4:2.) 
If we have even this world's goods and see our 
brother in need and shut up our compassion 
from him, how does the love of God abide in 
us?" (I. John 3:17). 

I said that this axiom of the myriad organs 
in the one organism points to others. We have 
felt the pricking of conscience, no doubt, as our 
glorified Christ whispered to us in the face of 
some unlovely man in some plight more awful 
than pitiable, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one 
of these least my brethren, ye did it unto me. 9 } 
Ah ! it is there, my Presbyterian brothers, that 
the larger truth grips and holds us. What we 
do unto the miserable, the helpless, the hope- 
less, we are doing unto our head. There is 
nothing pleasant in putting your arm around 
a drunken man and taking him home, and bath- 
ing him, and putting him to bed and staying 
with him till, through you, your Christ gets 
hold and holds fast. It is not pleasant in the 
thinking of it, as those know best who do it 
most; but, oh! it is glorious in the doing of it 
when we do it unto Him ! There are countless 
men in the church, in honorable positions today, 
who were brought back into the body of Christ 
by the love of the Brotherhood, by the ministry 
of the love of the Son of God. 

The final phase of this axiomatic truth of the 
many members in one body struggles for utter- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 25 

ance. It is this : The body of Christ on earth 
can be nothing less than earthwide. If there 
were no other reason why I cannot help being 
a foreign mission enthusiast, this ^ould suffice, 
"that Christ may have His complete body on 
earth." "When will He have it!" do you ask? 
Ask not me, and I think, wisely, refrain from 
asking Him. Better yet, ask your own heart, 
"Am I doing all that I can to help Him realize 
His body on earth?"; and then, best of all, ask 
Him, without the reserve of that false humility 
which is pride, "0, my exalted Lord! into what 
fellowship of service may I not enter with thee 
that thy body on earth may be made more 
gloriously complete?" If you are young, He 
may answer, "Go to China! There are those 
of another color and another clime whom I must 
yet have by the millions upon millions before 
my body will be made glorious ! ' ' And if you 
cannot go in person (and He never transplants 
an organ in the organism of His body that can- 
not stand the strain) He will lay upon you the 
burden and the fellowship of such intercession 
and such devotion that prayer will become a 
daily miracle and giving a daily delight — for 
the sake of the faraway members of His body 
on earth. 

A final truth makes my message four-square 
to this mighty Brotherhood gathered from the 
North, the South, the East and the West. It 
comes as the crowning conclusion to the princi- 
ples already outlined. 



26 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

IV. Isr the Brotherhood of the Body of 
Christ, the Life of Our Exalted Head is Com- 
municated Through the Body to Every Mem- 
ber, and Every Member Has Life in the Head. 

The end of the perfect body is not symmetry 
of form, but life. The purpose of the myriad 
organs in one organism is not unity, but life. 
The meaning of many members in one body is 
not harmony, but life. 

The body of Christ on earth is intended to be 
a living body, whose life is supplied by the 
Lord Himself. "I am the Life/' He declares. 
"I am come that ye might have life and that ye 
might have it abundantly," He proclaims. "I 
give unto them eternal life," He assures. Let 
the Christian remember that it is his Lord's life 
and not his own that he is living. There is no 
life in me apart from Him. ' ' I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me. ' ' 

This may seem to be a hard saying. It is not 
exactly fit for sensitive worldly ears, for a heart 
that has fashioned its life without taking Jesus 
Christ into account; but, brothers in Christ, it 
ought to be music to our ears and joy to our 
hearts to know that the Lord of Life, "the 
blessed and only potentate, the King of kings 
and Lord of lords who only hath immortality, 
dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man 
hath seen nor can see," lives in us, filling the 
little crevices of our cramped personalities with 
the infinite riches of His grace ; until we cease to 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 27 

be vessels and become channels of life through 
which He may reach and fill others. 

Nothing short of the complete and perfect 
fulness of Jesus Christ will suffice for the least 
of us. Could a mother ever persuade her most 
timid child of her genuine love unless she could 
reveal herself to that very child in the utter 
abandon of her love? Does a human father's 
heart have less affection for the second child 
because there has been a first? Each member 
of the circle of the family must have all the 
love of every other member. It is none the less 
true in the divine circle of life in Jesus Christ. 
Every member of "his redeemed Brotherhood 
which He has gathered to Himself by the bonds 
of faith and made a member of His body on 
earth must have all of His life. Do we have it, 
my brothers in Christ? We have it, but, un- 
fortunately, we do not possess and appropriate 
it. It is as good as gold in the bank or water 
in the fountain or light in the sky. We have 
the life of Christ in its immeasurable fulness 
for our very own. He withholds nothing. He 
hides nothing. He lavishes Himself upon you and 
me. How then, more than pitiful, how terrible 
it is, for any of us to try to live lives of self- 
righteousness ; self-centered, self-expanded, self- 
satisfied lives, when He seeks to live in us ! In 
the hour of heart depression, a saline solution 
is often injected to supply the lack of the rich 
corpuscular blood which has failed. The saline 
solution is a gracious emergency substitute. 



28 THE PKESBYTEBIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

What would we say of the member that deliber- 
ately constricted its supply of blood from a 
heart that never failed, and then injected into 
its arteries the saline solution because it pre- 
ferred it rather than blood ? How many of us are 
doing that very thing with our spiritual lives ! 
That precious blood in which all bloods are 
made one flows in a never-ending ever-pulsating 
stream from the heart of the Son of God, to 
you and me. But we rob the heart-throb of the 
Eternal Christ of its power to give us full and 
perfect life and then inject the saline solution 
of worldly wisdom, with its attendant exhil- 
aration, but with its final impoverishment of 
our lives, into our inmost hearts. There is no 
more pathetic sight than that of a seriously 
anemic child, a breathing corpse, a walking 
skeleton, an imprisoned soul. It is just so of 
the anemic members of the body of Christ on 
earth ; weak, wan and wasted for lack of blood. 
But the blood is there, is here, is everywhere. 
It flows ceaselessly and graciously. 0, brothers 
of the body of Christ, will we not let Him live 
in us to the very fulness! Do not let us wait 
to empty ourselves ! Let Him empty us of all 
that is evil by supplying us with His perfect 
blood! Let Him crowd out the carnal life by 
the flood-tide of His eternal life ! 

As I close my message today, I want to turn 
this last truth around, to let you see the glory 
of its other side. "He lives in us." Ah, yes, 
but we live in Him. We are saved in Him. We 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 39 

have peace in Him. We are confronted in Him. 
We are one in Him. It is infinite condescension 
that He should be willing to live in us, but it is 
eternal grace that He should be willing to have 
us live in Him. If we can take the word "vicari- 
ous, ' ' over which so many men stumble, and rid 
it of every vestige of narrowness by which we 
make it apply to the one single and sublime 
event, and match it instead against the whole 
round of our connection with Him, how glori- 
ously vicarious Christ is! How marvellously 
we stand completed in Him ! How patiently He 
bears the brunt of our misbehavior, the shame 
of our shamelessness, the hurt of our sin ! 

Does it mean nothing to us that at the head 
of our great fraternity of life we have an elder 
brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh? 
No doubt it means much, but it might mean 
much more. As we gather together the mean- 
ings of our separate lives, we find them all 
centered in Him. We can sing with the immortal 
Wesley — 

"Thou, O Christ, art all I want, 
More than all in Thee I find." 

I will be bold enough today to change the per- 
fect tense in one of our old hymns to a present 
imperfect. Instead of listening to the risen 
Lord as He tells the story of His one great 
sacrifice for sin, hear Him recounting the ever- 
lasting sacrifice of Himself for His saints as 
He says, 



30 ?HE PBESBYTERIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

" I am giving my life to thee. 
"What art thou giving for Me?" 

May we all be ready to answer in the words 
of that other hymn, 

"Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee, 
'Tis all that I can do." 

Members of the Presbyterian Brotherhood, 
great and godly men will knock at the door of 
this convention during these brief but memo- 
rable days. We will gladly open and let them 
in, with their messages of inspiration and coun- 
sel. In a moment, under the leadership of our 
honored Moderator and his colleagues, we will 
sit together in the heavenly places. But, my 
brethren, we may hear even now, if we will but 
listen, the sound of the knocking of a nail- 
pierced hand at the door of our hearts, and the 
voice of one saying, "Let me in! Let me in!" 
Shall we not first, and now, let the King of 
Glory in, crying — 

11 come to our hearts, Lord Jesus 
There is room in our hearts for Thee ! ' ' 

and He will come in and sup with us; He will 
come in and abide with us ; He will come in and 
show us His hands and His side, and we will not 
be faithless, but believing. 

Then, blessed ministry of grace, when the 
bread is broken and the cup is poured, He will 
rise before us, Lord and Master of us all ; and, 
stretching out His hands to every man in this 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 31 

presence He will say: "Ye are my body, my 
fulness, my life ! ' ' 

What a glorious heritage is ours, men of the 
Brotherhood of the Body of Christ! May the 
Holy Spirit of God make us worthier of our 
high calling in Jesus Christ our Lord ! 



IN MEMOEY OF OUE BRETHREN 
DEPARTED. 

John H. Converse, Member of National Council, 
1906-1910. 

James W. Axtell, Member of National Council, 
1907-1910. 

Henry E. Rosevear, Secretary, 1908-1909. 

Mr. Holt: — You have noticed the black 
margin on the memorial page for our brothers, 
and perhaps have thought, as I did, that the 
glorious vision of the Brotherhood of Christ's 
Body set before us, is not only as wide as the 
world, but as long as the ages, embracing not 
only every one living now, but every one who 
has lived and every one who by faith in Christ 
shall through all the ages be members of His 
body. That Brotherhood has suffered, as we call 
it, the loss of three strong, helpful souls ; yet not 
lost, 

1 l For all the children of the King in earth and heaven are one. ' ' 

It seems fitting that we should now, without 
any attempt at eulogy, join in a memorial service 
of prayer and song. We shall be led in prayer 
by Dr. Gregg, pastor of this church, and join in 
singing the hymn, "For All the Saints Who 
From Their Labors Rest." 

' ' Part of the host have crossed the flood, and part are crossing 
now." 

32 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 33 

Memoeial Peayer. 
by eev. haeeis h. geegg, d.d., st. louis, mo. 

Father, we praise thee for this hour of wor- 
ship ; we come into thy presence to worship thee 
and glory in thee and praise thy great and holy 
name ; and to rejoice with one heart in the spirit 
of our Lord and Saviour, who became man that 
He might die for us men and our salvation; 
and then didst rise from the dead, who is now 
seated at thy right hand. He remembered the 
truth and the life of His people ; He came not to 
be ministered unto to but to minister. We 
would have no confidence in ourselves ; looking 
at that cross, we would boast of thy sufficient 
grace and the work of thy own love and spirit 
in the hearts of those men whose names have 
been mentioned before thee and us today. 

We thank thee for that strong man, John H. 
Converse, to whom thou didst long ago show 
thyself. In all the simplicity of a child he rose 
up, and at thy word sought to tell the world of 
thee ; with a heart full of love, with a heart en- 
larged like the sands of the sea, that he might 
make known thy love to all the children of men. 
He dwelt in the cloud of the mountain with thee, 
yet he walked with God in the valley with us. 
We thank thee that, having run his course with 
us, he is in the mountain with thee. We pray 
that his mantle may fall on many a business 
man in our beloved church in the land. 



34 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

We thank thee for the brother, James W. 
Axtell, who lived in the great place of the Most 
High, and was so richly equipped by thy spirit, 
speaking wisdom, and with the law of kindness 
on his lips. We thank thee he was in the spirit 
and heard thee speaking beyond him the things 
he has seen, the things that are, and the things 
that shall be after thee. 

We thank thee for that efficient life and for 
the service of our brother, the beloved Secretary 
of this Brotherhood, the disciple whom Jesus 
loved, who also saw the vision of his Lord and 
heard His voice, and, seeing the veil rent, was 
taken within the veil. We thank thee he was a 
minister of the true sanctuary ; he stood by the 
altar and pointed to the blood. He ministered 
at the table and showed the bread of life, and in 
the light of the candlestick spoke of Him who 
was the light of the world, and not only went 
in but helped others in, his thought reaching 
unto the uttermost part of the earth. We thank 
thee he serves thee face to face. 

As we praise thee for all these men, we 
would praise thee for all the officers and the 
members of this organization. We ask thee, 
Lord Jesus, that our lives may be changed be- 
cause we meet here. We pray thee to send us 
forth indeed, as laborers in thy vineyard. We 
pray thee to equip us. We pray thee to make 
us all and individually men of God, men of faith, 
men of prayer, men of the Word of God, men 
who walk in the light of thy countenance, walk- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 35 

ing humbly before thee in thy grace and in the 
power of thy might. Eemind us that thou art 
all sufficient to the day and the hour. Let us 
find our sufficiency in thee. Let us know that 
thou art the same yesterday, today and forever. 
Speak to us that the scripture cannot be broken ; 
tell us again and again, as we heard today and 
through the conference, thy Church shall be 
built. Let us hear thee saying, as on the eve 
of the Transfiguration the disciples heard it, 
"I will build my Church and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." Let us see thee 
building; and oh, builder of the house of God, 
let us see the plummet in thy hands and know 
that He that was the foundation and laid the 
foundation, is also the chief cornerstone. May 
we hear thee say to us, "Till I come." 
We ask it all in Christ Jesus' Name. AMEN. 

Memoeial Hymn. 

For all the saints who from their labors rest, 
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, 
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might : 
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight; 
Thou, in the darkness drear, their light of light. Alleluia! 

Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, 

Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, 

And win, with them, the victors ' crown of gold. Alleluia! 

Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine! 

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; 

Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia! 



THE COMMUNION SERVICE. 

Rev. Chaeles Little, D.D., Wabash, IncL 
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church: — It is understood that the 
pastors of the St. Louis churches will pass the 
elements to us. and after the preliminary re- 
marks Dr. Niccolls will give to us the bread and 
will lead in the communion prayer; and after 
him Dr. Cannon will lead in the administration 
of the cup. Then the concluding word and 
prayer from Dr. Fullerton. announcing also the 
concluding hymn. 

Certainly we have been led by the voice of 
prayer and address and song to this season of 
joy. as our Chairman has just said to us, and 
our Heavenly Father can bless all human agen- 
cies to our own good. Is it not fitting, brethren, 
that a Brotherhood, such as this, should come 
to the table which has been spread for us by our 
Elder Brother? "We remember, as we read the 
story of this institution, that our Lord had with 
Him as disciples, His associates. His brother.-. 
and through them the message was to be given 
to the world, as the message is also to be given 
to the world through us ; is there any other body 
of Christians who can more properly introduce 
their tarrying together by such a service than a 
Brotherhood? The very word '''Brotherhood" 

36 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 37 

has been brought to us by our Elder Brother. 
The very word " Brotherhood" teaches us 
unity; that we are all one and equal to the 
other. I read that the Duke of Wellington went 
back to his Parish Church, and as he went up 
one aisle to the altar, a very humble man went 
up another, and they came and knelt side by 
side at the altar. Some suggested to the more 
humble man that he should step aside until the 
noble Duke had had his personal communion 
with God. But the other man, the man more 
honoured in the affairs of this life, reverentially 
laid his hand on the arm of the humbler man 
and insisted that he should remain by his side, 
and then added words of sufficient emphasis to 
be understood, "We are all of us equal here." 

We have come from our different homes, dif- 
ferent in years, different in circumstances, dif- 
ferent in relationship one to the other, to the 
outer world; but we are all of us equal here. 
It is our Father's house; it is our Father's 
table ; it has been spread for us by the one who 
was my Elder Brother and the Elder Brother 
of us all equally. Surely the Brotherhood can 
rejoice ; it is a season of joy for us. 

What is the thought as we come here ? Some 
of us are thinking of the marvelous goodness 
of God in so permitting us to come. If we so 
think, let us by the mercies of God beseech our- 
selves to present our bodies as a living sacri- 
fice. Or if we are thinking of our own un- 
worthiness, God comes to us in His marvelous 



38 THE PKESBYTERIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

love, and bids us look up to Him and possess 
the greatness of God in Christ. 

Is this a sacrament? The very thought of 
the sacrament and what God has done for us, 
suggests we renew our vows. 

Is this a Communion season? How we should 
rejoice with each other; for, as suggested by 
the early creed, "I believe in the communion 
of saints," we are all sharing and sharing alike, 
a communion with each other. 

Is this a supper, as the second thought that 
comes to us? We are glad that it is a supper 
rather than one of the other meals of the day. 
In the early morning hour some of you business 
men have gone from home eager for the busi- 
ness efforts and the children have not risen 
from bed, and in the noon hour you have re- 
mained away from home. It was only the 
broken family. In the evening the shadows 
are beginning to come ; when the shadows come, 
then we all gather at home, and we tarry one 
for the other, and we have gotten through with 
the day with its victories and its defeats. "What- 
ever may have been the condition, we are home ; 
and it is the supper hour, the hour that means 
strength for our bodies, for a new day's work. 
This is our supper. 

I conjecture if some noted man of this city 
should invite some of us to his house, he would 
place on the table that which we might most 
need, as we shared his fellowship; and so our 
Lord, the Chief among ten thousand, the one 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 39 

altogether lovely, has prepared this table for 
us, for our spiritual strength, for our spiritual 
elevation. He has prepared for us that which 
our needy souls may require. It is not only a 
supper; it is our Lord's Supper; it is an im- 
mortal supper He has prepared for us. We are 
celebrating now the death of our dear Lord. 
Only a few days ago in many a town the birth 
of Mr. Lincoln was celebrated, and tomorrow in 
many a town the birth of General Washington 
will be celebrated. We celebrate the birthdays 
of our great men, but we are meeting this after- 
noon, and in the Cross of Christ we are glory- 
ing; we are remembering our dead. It is His 
death and His love which has prepared this 
table for us. Our leader has spoken the right 
word when he says it is our joy to have this 
table spread for us. 

It is a blessed occasion. I believe I have been 
specially honored in being permitted to intro- 
duce this service to you. We are all specially 
honored because our Elder Brother said, "I, if 
I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. ' ' May 
our hearts burn within us as our Saviour talks 
with us by the way. 

Samuel J. Niccolls, D.D., LL.D. : — Coming 
down through the ages with wondrous accent 
are these words, "On the same night in which 
our Lord was betrayed, He took bread and 
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to His dis- 
ciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body which 



40 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

was broken for yon. This do in remembrance 
of me. After the same manner also, He took 
the cnp and gave it to His disciples, saying, 
This is the cnp of the New Testament, — my 
blood which was shed for many for the remis- 
sion of sins. Drink ye all of it." 

These are the words of the institution, and 
how tenderly and how touchingly does onr Lord 
Jesus call our attention to Himself in this ordi- 
nance which we are about to celebrate. From 
His hand we receive this sacred bread of His 
love. It is all radiant with that wondrous love 
which He showed to man in giving Himself for 
us. There is no other thought to come to us at 
this time than the thought of Jesus Christ in His 
richness. We come to receive the pledge of a 
finished redemption from His hand; the token 
of His undying love and care for us. 

As you have heard these words did you not 
discover a wondrous personality in them? Blot 
out those little pronouns "my," "me," "I," 
and the ordinance is nothing. It is the won- 
drous personality that is in it that leads us to 
bow before Him as we come into this presence. 
Oh, there is a real presence in the holy sacra- 
ment, — the living Christ who is putting Himself 
before our hearts. We are to be assisted 
through our senses in finding Him, but after all 
the touch and the taste are only to quicken 
within us the senses of the soul, that looking out 
into another world we may see Him. 

Long years ago when that storm of bloody 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 41 

strife was sweeping over our land, at the close 
of one of the fiercest battles, the chaplain went 
over the ground and found a wounded soldier. 
Approaching him, he said : 

"Is there anything I can do for you?" 

"No," he said. 

"Is there nothing you want?" 

"No." 

"But, my man, you are dying." 

"Yes, I know. But there is one thing, Chap- 
lain, you can do for me. Just cover my face 
with my blanket ; I want to shut out everything 
but Jesus." 

That is what we wish to do at this sacred 
hour, so that we shall stand as did the beloved 
disciple when his own teacher pointed him to 
one who was walking in solitude before him, 
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away 
the sins of the world." Our sins, our infirmi- 
ties, our doubts and our fears, — let us shut 
them all out and just look at Him who is all in 
all to us. 

It is fitting that in such an hour as this we 
should come to Him and renew our allegiance 
to Him ; and know that the Christ who died for 
us, the Christ who lived for us and lives now 
for us, calls us now to His service. On the 
same night in which our Lord was betrayed, He 
took bread and blessed it. Let us look to God, 
following His example : 

Oh, God, the Father eternal, immortal, in- 
visible. Oh, God, the Son, uncreated, eternally 



42 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

begotten. Oh, God, the Spirit, proceeding from 
the Father and the Son, one God, we adore 
thee; unto thee do we lift up our hearts with 
adoration and praise. We rejoice before thee 
that thou hast created us in thy image, made 
us capable of certain things. We give thee 
thanks for thy wondrous care over us, but es- 
pecially do we praise thee for the gift of thy 
love to us in sending thy only begotten Son to 
be born of a Virgin, to redeem us by His sacri- 
fice on the Cross. We thank thee for His un- 
speakable gift of the very bread of life for our 
souls. As we look out into that wondrous love 
shining on us in the face of Jesus Christ, more 
and more do we humble ourselves before thee, 
and confess our unworthiness. Never is our 
sin so shameful as when we remember thy love 
in our transgressions and wandering from 
thee; we humbly confess our transgressions, 
asking, oh, God, for Christ's sake, be merciful 
to us, blot out our transgressions; and, receiv* 
ing from thee the pledge of thy forgiveness, 
may our hearts rejoice in thy redeeming love. 
Eternal God, we have come before thee after 
the manner and example of our blessed Lord 
and Master, our Intercessor, and we ask thee 
that thou wouldst bless this bread and this 
wine, which in accordance with our Lord's ex- 
ample we set apart to a holy and sacramental 
use, that they may be as sacramentally the body 
and blood of Jesus Christ, and in receiving them 
in accordance with His appointment we may be 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 43 

fed on the benefits of His passion. Grant, we 
pray thee, thus to bless to us the ordinance of 
thine own appointment. 

As we receive the pledge of our Eedeemer's 
love bring us into such fellowship with Jesus 
Christ that our hearts may burn within us ; give 
us such a vision of Him today that we may 
have the realization in greater power of His 
own word in which He said, " I, if I be lifted up, 
will draw all men unto me." Lord, let us feel 
the drawing power of thy love so that we shall 
surrender ourselves unto thee. We ask thee for 
thy Name's sake, Amen. 

The same night in which our Lord was be- 
trayed He took bread and brake it, saying, 
"Take, eat, this is my body which is broken 
for you. This do in remembrance of me." He 
was wounded for our transgressions; by His 
stripes are we healed. The chastisement of our 
sins was upon Him. "I am the bread of life. 
Feed on me." 

Eev. J. F. Cannon, D.D. : — After our Lord 
had blessed and broken the bread and distrib- 
uted it to His disciples, we read, "He took the 
cup and gave thanks." As we think upon it, it 
fills us with wonder. "He took the cup and 
gave thanks." It was the emblem of His own 
blood ; He knew what it would cost Him to fill 
it; He knew He must pass through the agony 
of the Cross; He must taste the bitterness of 
death and endure the hiding of His Father's 



44 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

face ; and yet, knowing that as the meaning of 
the cup, He took it and gave thanks. It does 
seem to me that if Jesus gave thanks before 
taking the cup it behooves us to give thanks 
before receiving. Let us look to Him in thanks- 
giving. 

Oh, Lord, our Saviour, lead our hearts in 
thanksgiving to thee that thou hast shed thy 
blood for us. We thank thee that we have been 
given, not corruptible things as silver and gold, 
but that we have been given thine own precious 
blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without 
spot. We thank thee that in drinking thy blood 
we have life, everlasting life. We thank thee 
that thy blood was shed for many for the remis- 
sion of sins. We take the cup at thy hand to- 
day with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. 
Grant that we may understand more of the 
need of thy blood that was shed for us. May 
thy Spirit take the things that are thine, may 
He unfold to us the fullness of the meaning of 
thy grace and bring us more completely under 
the power of thy grace and enable us to ap- 
propriate the spirit of thy sacrifice as our own 
spirit and as the word of our lives. Grant 
that we may find thy blood is drink, indeed. 
We ask for thy Name's sake. Amen. 

He took the cup, and when He had given 
thanks He gave it to His disciples, saying, 
"This cup is my blood of the new covenant, 
shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink 
ye all of it." Just as freely as the cup is given 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 45 

and taken, so freely are all the spiritual bene- 
fits which it symbolizes offered to us. Drink 
all ye of it. i ' For as often as ye drink this cup 
and eat this bread ye do show the Lord's death 
till He come." 

Eev. Baxtee P. Fullekton, D.D., LL.D. : — 
Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, whose life and death 
have been brought so vividly before us this 
afternoon, incarnate thyself in each one of us 
as we go hence to meet life's responsibilities 
and life's privileges. No man can tell what the 
day may bring forth. We do not know what 
awaits us tomorrow, but with thee and in thy 
strength we can meet it all and triumph over 
all difficulties. Oh, God, bless us, we pray, as 
we have taken the bread and the wine this 
afternoon; God grant that we may discern 
through it the blood of our Lord and from such 
discernment may we get a real conception of 
what Jesus Christ is to us and of what He is to 
the world to which we minister. Oh, God, let 
thy blessing come upon the men gathered here ; 
keep us, we beseech thee ; send us forth as Jesus 
sent His disciples forth to the world, unto 
which Jesus gave His life and for which He has 
commissioned us. Let thy benediction be on 
us now as we close this hour of service, for Jesus 
Christ's sake. Amen. 



THE MEN AND RELIGION 
FORWARD MOVEMENT 



THE MEN AND KELIGION FORWARD 
MOVEMENT. 

BY. REV. CLARENCE A. BARBOUR, D.D., NEW YORK. 

Mr. Holt : — In the last four years there has 
been a great deal of questioning, internal and 
external, as to the objective of the Brotherhood. 
There is a great deal to be said on this subject. 
Some of it may be said before we get through 
with this convention. We have all been look- 
ing and longing for at least one thing in which 
the Brotherhood could enlist itself without sus- 
picion of narrowness, — a purpose and aim 
which was worthy to enlist the activity and 
sympathy of every Presbyterian man the coun- 
try over. Under God, we believe that such a 
movement has now arisen and it will be pre- 
sented to us tonight by one of the men best 
qualified to tell us about it. An enterprise that 
will loom large in the deliberations and, as we 
trust, in the resolves and effects of this conven- 
tion. Without anticipating what he is going 
to say to us, and without repeating what many 
have been familiar with, I take great pleasure 
in introducing to you the Secretary of the Re- 
ligious Work Department of the International 
Committee of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation, long a beloved pastor, Rev. Clarence 

49 



50 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

A. Barbour, D J)., of New York, to speak to us 
on "The Men and Beligion Forward Move- 
ment." 

De. Baebotje : — Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Convention : — I count myself as possess- 
ing a peculiar privilege tonight in standing 
in this presence and speaking upon this theme. 
The President has said that we have been look- 
ing for objectives in the Brotherhood. I have 
the honor of serving on the Executive Commit- 
tee of one Brotherhood; I think I have some 
little knowledge of the other Brotherhoods of 
the land, and I believe that we all of us realize 
that while we may feel about for a time for our 
objectives, that whatever work we have to do 
has to be done in the pretty immediate future. 
David Starr Jordan said recently, "Today is 
your day and mine, the only day we have, the 
day in which we play our part of a great whole ; 
we may not understand, but we are here to play 
it, and now is our time." 

I think we shall agree that one of the charac- 
teristics of the day is the fact that the day is a 
time of thinking in terms of the Kingdom of 
God. It is admitted at once that some of the 
thinking is misty and some of the teaching has 
no body of clear thought behind it, but never- 
theless, the conception of the Kingdom has come 
and come to stay. The field is the world, said 
the Master; any smaller conception is a belit- 
tling of our faith, a caricature of Christianity ; 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 51 

anything short of the conquest of the world for 
the Christian is an ideal unworthy of the Chris- 
tian name. Let no one misunderstand ; we are 
not of those sentimentalists who decry ecclesias- 
tical or denominational organization; we coun- 
sel no sacrifice of conviction to a going forth 
in the spirit of our Divine Lord, i ' That they all 
may be one ; even as thou, Father, art in me, and 
I in thee, that they also may be in us, that the 
world may believe that thou didst send me." 
That is the purpose. Oneness of believers, that 
the world may believe that the Father of our 
spirits sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the 
world. 

One of the Christian statesmen of this day 
has said, "It needs no prophet to foretell that 
this movement in the direction of federating 
and uniting and consolidating Christian forces 
is bound to increase in volume and momentum. 
Men may question, criticise and resist it, but it 
can no more be held back than the tides of the 
sea. Christian laymen, in the light of their busi- 
ness experience, will not be longer patient with 
existing conditions. The most discerning min- 
isters are those earnest in their advocacy of a 
change ; surely a closer drawing together of the 
bands of their followers cannot but be pleasing 
to our Lord and Master." 

The foreign missionary achievements of the 
Church in Asia, India, Latin America, in rela- 
tion to Christian comity, union schemes of edu- 
cation, philanthropy and evangelism, have been 



52 THE PEESBYTERIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

such as to inspire confidence in the same oppor- 
tunities and methods in the home fields. How 
much better and wiser would it be, instead of 
resisting this movement, or, by indifference, 
prolonging the period of waste, inefficiency and 
failure, to exert and exercise true statesman- 
ship in aggressive, masterful effort to bring 
about this federation and consolidation. 

The Men and Religion Forward Movement, — 
if I might venture to make a definition of it, 
which has never been made in this form, — cer- 
tainly is a federation of Christian men's or- 
ganizations, and of Christian men individually, 
for the purpose of lovingly, earnestly and per- 
sistently urging the claims of Christ in an un- 
usual manner upon the men and boys of North 
America. Now, there is a man's religion. I 
was reading again today in the Book of the Acts 
about some examples of a man's religion. For 
example, when the Apostle Peter, with John, 
was brought before the Sanhedrin, as given to 
us in the fourth chapter of the Acts, Peter said, 
"If we this day are examined concerning a good 
deed done to an impotent man, by what means 
this man is made whole; be it known unto you 
all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the 
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye 
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even 
in Him doth this man stand here before you 
whole. He is the stone which was made the 
head of the corner and in none other is there 
salvation; for neither is there any other name 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 53 

under heaven, given among men, wherein we 
must be saved." "Now when they beheld the 
boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived 
that they were unlearned and ignorant men, 
they marvelled; and they took knowledge of 
them, that they had been with Jesus." 

Or look in that later chapter of the same 
book, where the Apostle Paul is before Festus 
and Agrippa. Paul said, "I am not mad, most 
excellent Festus ; but speak forth words of truth 
and soberness. For the king knoweth of these 
things, for I am persuaded that none of these 
things are hidden from him ; for this thing was 
not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest 
thou the prophets ? I know that thou believest. 
And Agrippa said unto Paul, With but little 
persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Chris- 
tian. And Paul said, I would to God, that 
whether with little or with much, not thou only, 
but also all that hear me this day, might be- 
come such as I am." Then, perfect gentleman 
that he was, he added, " Except," of course, 
"these bonds." 

Pass from the Apostle Peter and the Apostle 
Paul, to the Master of them both and the Mas- 
ter of us all. When He is presented, as He 
ought to be presented, men recognize that there 
is a man's religion. 

Now, brethren, let us get together in the 
presentation of that religion. I remember a 
Cornell-Princeton football game some years 
ago, when the ball was in Princeton's posses- 



54 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

sion and being carried on further to Cornell's 
goal, until at last it got down to the five-yard 
line and only one down ; two downs yet and only 
five yards to go. The Cornell men, as if by 
common consent, rallied to the side lines and 
shouted; and this was their slogan, "Get to- 
gether, Men. Get together, Men. Get togethek, 
Men." There was something in that slogan 
that got into the blood and nerve of the Cornell 
men, and presently it was Cornell's ball, and 
was going far toward the Princeton goal once 
more. 

Whence came the idea of men and religion 
in this, The Men and Eeligion Forward Move- 
ment? I suppose if there is any man living who 
is more responsible for it than another man, it 
is splendid Harry Arnold, who tonight is at 
Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks fighting for 
his health and his life. I suspect that Harry 
Arnold was one of the pioneers in the advanc- 
ing of this idea. There came together a group 
of the International Y. M. C. A. men and little 
by little there was worked out some such plan 
as that which is proposed today in The Men 
and Eeligion Forward Movement. When that 
plan, thus systematized, was brought to one of 
the Secretaries of a Brotherhood, he listened; 
and from a pigeonhole in his desk he brought 
out an almost similar plan, which had been 
evolved by Brotherhood men. When the plan 
was taken to Marion Lawrance, of the Inter- 
national Sunday School Association, he list- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 55 

ened ; and then from a pigeonhole in his desk he 
brought out a plan which the International Sun- 
day School men had worked out, very, very simi- 
lar to the plan I am to present to you tonight. 
So, when you ask whence came the idea, I think 
we would best say the idea was born, reverently 
we may say it, in the heart and in the mind and 
wisdom of Almighty God, and was intimated by 
Him to more than one of His servants, and to 
more than one group of His servants. 

What organizations have already agreed to 
participate in The Men and Eeligion Forward 
Movement? There are in the first place the 
Brotherhoods of every evangelical church in 
America. There is The Gideons, that splendid 
organization of Christian commercial travelers. 
There is the International Sunday School Asso- 
ciation, and there is the International Commit- 
tee of the Y. M. C. A., with their state and local 
organizations, the continent over. I venture to 
say, gentlemen, that there never has been such 
a union of Christian men's organizations upon 
the face of this earth in the history of man as is 
assured in the movement of which we now 
speak. 

What are the means to be used? Let me men- 
tion them briefly: — 

First :— Publicity. Such publicity, through 
such methods as have never been so fully used 
before. For example, contracts have already 
been entered into with such men as Justice 
Hughes, and Governor Harmon, and Governor 



56 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Woodrow Wilson, men who stand high in the 
eyes and the honor of men, to write articles for 
the leading magazines beginning next fall, urg- 
ing the claims of the Christian religion upon 
the men and boys of America. Already ar- 
rangements are being made with the leading 
journals of the continent, the daily journals, to 
give at least a column a week to the furthering 
and giving of publicity to the idea which is here 
involved. Besides this, from pulpit and from 
lecture platform, on billboards, through street 
car advertising, in every legitimate and effec- 
tive way, the claims of Christ upon men and 
boys are going to be given a publicity in the 
next eighteen months, which we venture to say 
they have never had before. 

Second: — There ought to be ninety cities, — 
from seventy to ninety cities, — selected, each of 
which is to be a center of the campaign. Those 
ninety cities, in part, have been selected already. 
You understand, of course, that no city is ac- 
cepted as being one of the centers of this cam- 
paign, except on certain, definite conditions, 
which will insure, or at least will make probable, 
the success of the campaign in that city. In 
each of these cities there will be organized a 
committee of one hundred of the biggest and 
best and brainiest Christian professional and 
business men who will be the executive and 
campaign committee for that city, and not only 
for that city, but for contiguous cities also. Let 
me call your attention to the chart which hangs 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 57 

over the President's head. This gives you De- 
troit, which is one of the cities furthest ad- 
vanced up to date in the organization of the 
campaign. Here are contiguous cities going 
as far as Bay City, ninety miles away, and there 
are some other cities over on the other side of 
the river which might be added. In each of 
these cities there is to be a sub-committee of 
four, a pastor and three laymen, who are to co- 
operate with the committee of one hundred in 
the center city. That enlarged committee guar- 
antees that the main program of the Detroit 
convention, which will be one of the features of 
the year in Detroit and other cities, will be re- 
produced in each one of the cities named, — the 
contiguous cities. So that we are going to reach 
not ninety cities, but, as near as we can figure 
it out, thirteen hundred and fifty cities through- 
out the continent of North America. 

Third: — A third feature of the movement is 
the organization of three teams of experts. 
These experts will be not only from America, 
but from across the sea. If there are ninety 
cities, there will probably be four teams of ex- 
perts. If there are seventy cities, there will 
probably be three teams of experts. These 
teams will be made up, for example, of the best- 
available experts on Bible Study, on Social 
Service, on Shop Work, on Men's Work, on 
Boys' Work, on Evangelism, and the best leader 
of Gospel Singing for men that can be secured. 
There will be seven or eight men on each of 



58 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

these teams, if I may call them so. The visit of 
these teams to any center, like Detroit, will be 
about seven days in duration. During those 
seven days the whole rounded message of the 
Gospel of Christ to men and boys will be pre- 
sented and the best known methods, the best as- 
certained methods for dealing with men and 
boys in the all round message of Jesus Christ, 
will be presented not only in platform addresses 
but in normal institutes. 

Let me illustrate. Here is a great city like 
Detroit or Chicago. That city will be divided 
into sections. On a certain evening, for exam- 
ple, the expert on Bible Study will be in a cer- 
tain quarter of that city, and also in the after- 
noon, to reach all those in that quarter of the 
city who desire to come in contact with the most 
approved and up-to-date methods in Bible 
Study. Then that expert will pass on to the 
next quarter and an expert on Social Service in 
the same quarter will take his place. The next 
day the expert on Men's Work, etc. So that 
during the week in every quarter in every one 
of those cities there will be set forth, both, let 
me repeat, in platform addresses and normal 
institutes, the salient features of the all-round 
message of the Gospel. 

Now, please understand, that the visit of a 
team like this to a city is not the whole sum and 
substance of a year's work. It is merely an 
incidental matter, an important incident, no 
doubt, but an incidental matter after all, because 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 59 

beginning with Bally Day in September of next 
year, up to Culmination Day in May the year 
following, there is to be a year of unusual meth- 
ods and effort for the salvation, body, mind and 
soul of the entire body of men and boys in that 
city. Of course, no movement like this is going 
to succeed except as it lays the stress, as it must 
be laid, on the individual local church, and in 
the last analysis, upon the local, individual man. 
No outside team is going to be able to do this 
work for the churches and for the Christian 
men of those churches ; but the incoming of new 
methods and the incoming of the inspiration of 
this vast movement is going to mightily help the 
local churches, and mightily help the body of 
Christian men in any city. It was proposed that 
these teams should begin, for example, one in 
the South and work from East to "West ; another 
in the extreme North and work from East to 
West, and another in the middle between the 
two and work from West to East. The plan is 
now to take the continent territorially, and that 
all the teams, say for a month, will go into one 
territory of the continent. For example, when 
one team is in Atlanta, another team may be in 
Charlotte, North Carolina, or Charleston, South 
Carolina. While one is in New Orleans, an- 
other may be in Memphis, or Mobile, or Bir- 
mingham, and after the campaign as far as the 
teams is concerned has been carried on in the 
South for a month, or six weeks, or two months, 
all of the teams will be transported, perhaps, to 



60 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the Pacific Coast, and will give the whole coast 
the simultaneous inspiration of the presence of 
all the teams at once on that coast. 

Fourth: — Another feature of the campaign 
will be the Exhibit. It is proposed to have with 
each team a traveling exhibit of what the Chris- 
tian Church is doing for the welfare of men and 
boys. Such a pictorial and concrete exhibit, I 
think, has never been given before. That is go- 
ing to be one distinguishing and very valuable 
feature of the movement. 

Fifth : — A fifth feature will be collateral and 
co-ordinated efforts for specific classes among 
men and boys. For example, while these cam- 
paigns are going on in the cities, there will be 
unusual and special effort made to reach rail- 
road men as a class. There will be unusual arid 
special effort to reach students in our great col- 
leges and universities as a class, and such men 
as Mr. Mott are already thoroughly committed 
to this collateral and co-ordinated work. 

Sixth: — There is to be presented the insist- 
ence that this year, or this eighteen months, of 
work is to be only a beginning. That this thing 
is no spasm, no thing for a week or for a year, 
but that by all the teaching of these methods 
there is to go on from this Men and Religion 
Forward Movement Campaign such a continual 
and cumulative effort for men and boys as will 
never cease until the kingdom of our Lord 
among men and boys has come. 

Let me say a word in regard to the financing 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 61 

of this whole matter, because I know some will 
inquire about that. There is a central commit- 
tee of ninety-seven. Looking over the list of 
the committee I find Charles T. Thompson of 
Minneapolis ; William Jennings Bryan, Lincoln, 
Nebraska ; James D. Husted, Denver ; Hugh H. 
Hanna, Indianapolis; Ealph W. Harbison, 
Pittsburgh; Charles S. Holt, Chicago; A. A. 
Hyde, Wichita; Ira Landrith, Nashville; Henry 
B. F. McFarland, Washington, D. C; Judge 
Selden P. Spencer, St. Louis; Charles Stelzle, 
New York. 

I think you will agree that these men are not 
mere sentimentalists, and these, as a part of the 
Committee of Ninety-seven, have not gone into 
a hare-brained scheme. A budget has been pre- 
pared with great care that will take care of the 
matter of the salaries of experts on these teams 
and all matters that rightfully belong to a cen- 
tral committee. The amount of money sub- 
scribed is a considerable one, and is being rap- 
idly and generously provided. A local city, like 
Detroit, will, of course, take care of its local 
campaign. It will entertain these gentlemen 
on the expert teams while they are there. It 
will pay no salaries, and it will have no part as 
a city in the payment of the salaries; that is 
taken care of from the central body ; but it will 
naturally, as in every great campaign, take care 
of its own local, legitimate expense. 

Now as to the importance of the all-round 
message. I wish I had an hour to speak on that, 



62 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHEKHOOD 

but I am no thief of time, and I am going to 
yield to Dr. Alexander when my time is ex- 
hausted. Let me call your attention again to 
the salient features of this message. 

First: — Bible Study. A layman said to me 
not forty-eight hours ago, an honored layman 
in a Christian church, that his grown daughter, 
now a wife and mother, asked him during fam- 
ily prayers, when visiting in the home, whether 
Moses and Jesus were contemporaries. The 
leader of a student Bible class in one of our uni- 
versities told me also within forty-eight hours, 
that in a class of fourteen sophomores this past 
year only one of the class knew in what town or 
village Jesus was born. Now you may credit 
these things or not ; the source of them in each 
case was eminently credible. I have no ques- 
tion whatsoever that they were literally and 
strictly true. The fact is we talk so much about 
the immense number of Bibles that are printed 
and circulated that we forget that there is such 
a thing as the existence of these facts together 
with an appalling ignorance of the Bible. There 
needs to be a tremendous campaign entered 
upon for a sane, wholesome all-round study and 
knowledge of God's "Word as the lamp of our 
counsel and the light of our path. That feature 
certainly is needed. 

Second: — Social Service. Anybody who has 
his ear near the ground today and hears the 
widespread mutterings of discontent will not 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 63 

need to have it proved to him that there needs 
to be also a sane and wholesome message of so- 
cial service on the part of those who represent 
Jesus Christ. 

Third: — Shop and Factory Work. Many of 
these men under present conditions will not 
come to our churches to hear the truth of Christ. 
The only alternative is that we take the Gospel 
where they are; and, gentlemen, as I think of 
some of the shop meetings which it has been 
my pleasure to address in the last ten years, I 
know that men in the shops give a welcome 
hearing to the presentation of a man's religion. 

Fourth: — Missions. The Laymen's Mission- 
ary Movement has opened the door here, and 
we can assure you that the Laymen's Mission- 
ary Movement is going to cooperate strongly 
in this feature of the Men and Eeligion For- 
ward Movement. 

Fifth : — Boys 7 Work. Brethren, if we are go- 
ing to reach the college students of this conti- 
nent in very large numbers we have got to begin 
with the high school boy. I heard one of the 
best qualified men to speak on this theme say 
within a few days that within his memory the 
sins which were formerly sins of freshmen and 
sophomores in colleges have gone back a stu- 
dent generation and today are the sins of 
Freshmen and Sophomores in the high school. 
If your eyes and ears are not open to the awful 
need of work, corrective and preventive work, 



64 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

among boys, you don't know very much of what 
is going on today. When I was in San Fran- 
cisco a little while ago a boy was dragged over 
the cliff of Telegraph Hill. Here is the account 
of it from the San Francisco paper, "Kite drags 
boy over cliff. The boy was flying his kite out 
on Telegraph Hill; a large kite held by a very 
strong cord. The wind was blowing in tre- 
mendously from the Pacific. The kite drew the 
boy toward the edge of the cliff; he, unwilling 
to lose his kite, held on too long until he was 
dragged over and fell 200 feet a mangled and 
crushed mass of flesh upon the rocks below." 
Now, listen, the boy's father said that night, 
"I did not see the accident, and have received 
contradictory reports about it, but in whatever 
way the accident might have occurred, it could 
have been prevented if there had been a fence 
there. The neighborhood has long felt the need 
of a fence at that spot above the quarry; per- 
haps, the death of my boy will result in one be- 
ing put there." 

Perhaps the death, the moral death, of not 
one but a multitude of boys, may result after a 
while in Christian men getting together to put 
a fence around the cliff. 

Sixth and Last : — Evangelism. This is an all- 
round message. Bible Study, Social Service, 
Shop and Factory Work, Missions, Boys' 
Work, Evangelism, and if you leave out the last 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 65 

you leave out the greatest essential of all, 
Evangelism. 

They say there is a coal mine down in Penn- 
sylvania which has been burning for fifty years. 
They have tried to put out the fire, but ever and 
again columns of smoke rising through crevices 
of the roof have told that the fire is still going 
on. At length the fire approached a mass of 
anthracite coal, four hundred million tons in 
weight, representing a cash market value of two 
billions of dollars. Then owners of coal lands 
planned to sink, and did sink, a solid wall of 
cement wide enough and deep enough and thick 
enough, in the path of the advancing flame, to 
save that mass of valuable coal. A fire has been 
burning more than fifty years on this continent, 
and unless there be a united effort to sink a 
solid wall of wholesome wise evangelism in the 
way of the advancing fires of sin, we are going 
to lose more than our coal, we are going to lose 
our men and our boys. 

Men and Eeligion. Herbert Carroll says in 
his "Promise of American Life" that there are 
some foolish men who believe that the promise 
of American life is destined to automatic ful- 
fillment. Without religion this nation is going 
to die as other nations have died. You know 
the poem of the ships : — 

"If all the ships I have at sea 
Should come a-sailing home to me, 
Ah, well ! the harbor could not hold 
So many sails as there would be 
If all my ships came in from sea. 



66 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEKHOOD 

"If half my ships eame home from sea, 
And brought their precious freight to me, 
Ah, well ! I should have wealth as great 
As any king who sits in state — 
So rich the treasures that would be 
In half my ships now out at sea. 

"If just one ship I have at sea 

Should come a-sailing home to me, 

Ah, well ! the storm clouds then might frown : 

For if the others all went down 

Still rich and proud and glad I'd be. 

If that one ship came back to me. 

1 1 If that one ship went down at sea, 

And all the others came to me, 

Weighed down with gems and wealth untold, 

With glory, honor, riches, gold, 

The poorest soul on earth I'd be 

If that one ship came not to me." 

Gentlemen, you will find the whole program 
set forth by such men as John R. Mott, Pro- 
fessor Robinson, Fred B. Smith and Marion 
Lawrance, and Ira Landrith and James G. Can- 
non, — you will find the whole program in a little 
book that is for sale on the table yonder, the 
profits of which not one cent goes to any indi- 
vidual. These books are fifty cents each, and I 
cannot counsel you just at this moment to buy 
any book in preference to this book, called " Men 
and Religion," which is a perfect gold mine of 
Christian thought, a perfect forest of Christian 
instruction regarding this Movement, which, 
please God, is going to be the mightiest Move- 
ment for the coming of his Kingdom among men 
and boys that the world has seen. 



MEN AND THE KINGDOM 

BY EEV. JAMES F. VANCE, D.D., NASHVILLE, TENN. 

Dk. Vance : I have been a Dutchman, as Mr. 
Holt says, that is, a Eeformed Presbyterian, 
and I am now back in the Southern Presbyte- 
byterian fold. There is not so much difference 
between us, after all. One is the Presbyterian 
Church in the U. S. A., and one is the Presby- 
terian Church in the U. S., and that is just a 
little difference. Once the line which divided 
us was red, — war red; and now it is blue, — 
Presbyterian blue. Some day it will be white, 
— the white of our common Christianity; and 
the day after it is white it will not be at all. 

I am to speak to you to-day about men and 
the kingdom. 

MEN. 

First, Men! The modern man is far from 
being a pigmy. He is not what he is going to 
be. He has some things to forget and much to 
learn. Mr. Thomas A. Edison, in a recent arti- 
cle, is reported as saying: "We are only ani- 
mals. "We are coming out of the dog state and 
getting a glimpse of our environment. We don't 
know; we just suspect a few things. It will 
take an enormous evolution of our brains to 

67 



68 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

bring us anywhere." There may be some truth 
in this statement. If there is, it was said in a 
finer way long ago by him who, writing by 
inspiration of God, said: "It doth not yet 
appear what we shall be, but we know that when 
He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we 
shall see Him as He is." 

But for all that may characterize the present 
as the dog-age of the world, there is abundant 
evidence that man is not degenerating. The 
pessimists who chant a dirge over the present 
and proclaim that all greatness is behind us, are 
short on facts. The modern man is the finest 
of his kind in all the files of time, and he is 
doing today things which his predecessors in 
the dead centuries never so much as dreamed of. 

It is a day of great things in subduing and 
controlling the forces of nature. Mr. Edison 
declares in the article I have referred to, that 
the day is coming when manual labor will be 
a thing of the past; when men will chain the 
forces of nature to their machines, and make 
machinery do that which is now done by physical 
toil, while man's part will be merely that of a 
superintendent, watching the machinery to see 
that it works right. The earth, the sea, and 
even the prince of the powers of the air, are all 
becoming subject to man. This modern man 
digs a ditch to connect the waters to two world 
oceans and divide the "Western Hemisphere into 
two vast island continents ; hangs his messages 
on the wireless currents of the sky, and sends 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 69 

them to the ends of the earth ; plucks his news 
items from empty space; reports the progress 
of events in the moon, and makes a geography 
of Mars. Nothing is too daring or too difficult 
for the modern man. 

It is a day of large things in the battle with 
disease, and in the conflict with the foes of life 
and health. Already some of the most dreadful 
contagions, like smallpox and diphtheria, have 
been disarmed of their terrors ; tuberculosis has 
had to yield its awful secret, and it is only a 
question of time when the White Plague will be 
numbered among the dead ; and even that worst 
scourge of our races, cerebro-spinal meningitis, 
is about to capitulate before the advance of med- 
ical science. What is there that man is not 
doing or attempting in the interests of sanita- 
tion and health? No cost is too high, and no 
sacrifice is too severe. The modern science of 
conflict with disease is one of the wonders of 
the world. They tell us that the soldiers of the 
blood are the white corpuscles, and that when a 
hostile germ enters the system, immediately 
these soldiers rush to the attack. Eecently the 
papers reported that a physician had gathered 
the white corpuscles out of the blood of a rabbit 
and administered them to patients sick with 
pneumonia, and that, while he was not ready to 
dogmatize, and his work was still in the experi- 
mental stage, the result of his experiments 
showed a diminution of 11 per cent in the fatali- 
ties of the cases thus treated. 



70 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 



It is a day of large things in the realm of 
finance. Nothing is too big for the modern man 
to finance. It is a day of great things in phi- 
lanthropy, in education, in government, in ad- 
ministration. Wherever man turns his face, 
and to whatever he sets his hand with grim 
determination, there is achievement. 

The modern man has his face towards the 
morning. He is not held in the dead hand of 
an effete conservatism; he believes in the fu- 
ture. Perhaps now and then you will find a 
man who hates a thing because it is new. In 
the State of North Carolina there is a habit of 
naming the country churches after streams on 
which they are located ; — one is the Eocky River 
Church. It was served for many years by a 
devoted minister, Brother Pennick, who was 
succeeded by Dr. Mack, the father of Dr. Ed- 
ward Mack of Lane Theological Seminary. Like 
most ministers, when Dr. Mack became pastor 
he had some new ideas he wanted to introduce. 
The congregation protested. They said what 
was good enough for Brother Pennick was good 
enough for him. At last Dr. Mack grew very 
tired of this and one morning he went into the 
pulpit and told them of a dream. He dreamed he 
was dead, and he went to heaven and asked at 
the gate of Saint Peter if the Session of the 
Rocky River Church was there. He said, "No, 
they are not here." "This is strange," said Dr. 
Mack; "the last time they were seen they were 
headed in this direction." Saint Peter said, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 71 

"They did come up, and asked me what place 
this was, and I said, 'It is the New Jerusalem/ 

" 'The New Jerusalem,' they said. 'What 
music is that we hear on the inside?' 

" 'The new Song.' 

" 'The New Song! Come on, brethren; 
Brother Pennick is not here; there is too 
much new-fangled business about this place. 
We will find him further on. ' " 

I suppose now and then we have survivors 
of this dead age in our churches, but the men of 
to-day for the most part have their faces toward 
the future. 

The modern man is a giant. We may be liv- 
ing in the dog-age, but it is rapidly changing 
into the man-age. The reign of the bark and 
bite, the reign of brute force, is over ; ideas are 
on the throne ; war will soon be a thing of the 
past. There seems to be absolutely no limit to 
the possibilities of man's future. He would 
seem to be equal to well nigh anything. Let 
but the undertaking be named, and somewhere 
you will find hearts bold enough and brains big 
enough. Some day man will cook his food and 
heat his house with imprisoned sunshine, and 
some day he will run his factories and do his 
work with power captured from the restless, 
tireless sea; for man is more like God than 
anything else in the world, and the making of 
the future world is a man's business. 



72 THE PKESBYTERIAN BKOTHERHOOD 

THE KINGDOM. 

Next, the Kingdom ! It is the New Testament 
name for the future world. It is the name 
given to the civilization Christianity proposes 
to establish in the earth. We have had a civili- 
zation called Babylonian, and another called, 
Egyptian, and another called Grecian, and an- 
other called Eoman, and we have a civilization 
called Anglo-Saxon ; but the coming civilization 
will be Christian. It will be the age of the 
world when the teachings of Christ will become 
the common practice of mankind. To this civ- 
ilization the New Testament gives the name of 
Kingdom, and there is no higher, holier aspira- 
tion than to pray and no loftier service than to 
toil for its coming. 

Let us think of the origin of this Kingdom. 
It started in the heart of God. It is not a 
human production. It was born in the brain 
of the Deity. It is God's vision for humanity. 
It is the finest dream of the Eternal for the high- 
est of His creatures. 

Let us think of the character of this King- 
dom. It is built on the two great fundamental 
laws of love to God and love to man. It is lo- 
cated in human experience. The Kingdom is 
within you. It consists not of meat and drink. 
It ministers not to the carnal appetites and ma- 
terial instincts, but to the soul and character 
of man. It consists of righteousness and peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Its business is to 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 73 

make a man right and friendly and happy ; and 
when you have made a man a right man and a 
friendly man and a happy man, what is there 
that remains to be done for that man? 

Let us think of the Kingdom's extent. It is 
world-wide, and touches all life. It is a dream 
of universal dominion. It is to take in all 
classes and nations and races. It is to realize 
the great human brotherhood, and translate into 
fact true fraternity. The thing men have been 
groping after in their Orders and Lodges and 
Circles is coming, but not that way. It is com- 
ing, but not through hate or class rivalry or 
the competition of selfish interests. All these 
human organizations are but dumb reaches 
after the great ideal. True fraternity will 
come as the Kingdom comes, as Christ comes 
in the characters of men, and no faster. 

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain 

shall meet, 
Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgment 

seat; 
But there is neither East nor West, border nor breed, nor 

birth, 
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come 

from the ends of the earth !" 

That will do for a pagan song, but it will not 
do for Christianity, because Christianity sings 
not only of the Brotherhood of "two strong 
men," but of two whatever their condition. One 
may be a millionaire and one a pauper; one 
may be a sage and one unlettered ; one may be 
a black man and one a white man ; one of them 



74 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

may be a Christian man and the other a heathen 
man ; one may be the best man in the city and 
the other the worst man in the city; but they 
are brothers. This is the strong note of Chris- 
tianity. 

Let us think of its permanence. The King- 
dom is coming to stay. It will be enduring. 
God will not stop until He has things His way, 
and once He has gotten them His way, they 
will stay His way. It is an everlasting King- 
dom. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against 
it. Other civilizations come and go. Already 
we are studying their ruins, but this civiliza- 
tion of the Kingdom will never be in ruins. Its 
glory will never wither, and its music will never 
die. 

Let us think of the future of the Kingdom. 
It will not only last, but it will spread and 
grow. There is no dead line to its progress. 
Of its increase there will be no end. Like the 
River of Vision proclaimed by the ancient 
prophet, it will go on and on, growing wider, 
deeper, higher, swifter, sweeter, stronger, be- 
nigner, diviner, forever and forever. 

Such is the Kingdom, and the bringing in of 
this Kingdom, the merging of every other into 
it, and the establishment and maintenance of 
its dominion over the future world, is a man's 
business. 

MEN AND THE KINGDOM. 

Now for the union. Men and the Kingdom! 
The Kingdom needs men. This was the way 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 75 

Christ began His work : He called a dozen men. 
They were not remarkable men. They were 
doing nothing to stir the world. Some were 
common fishermen ; one was a tax gatherer ; 
others were ordinary peasants. There was not 
a great philanthropist or financier or explorer 
among them; but Christ called them. He 
packed Himself into those men and said to 
them: "Go and preach my Gospel/' and the 
effect was wonderful. The Gospel climbed over 
the snow-capped peaks of Mount Lebanon, swam 
the Bosphorus, captured Greece, conquered 
Borne, spread to Gaul, and filled the earth. 

Think of what it would mean for the King- 
dom if the manhood of the modern world were 
as thoroughly enlisted as that little company of 
Apostles! Suppose Christ could pack Himself 
into the men who are subduing the forces of 
nature, who are chaining electricity, who are 
conquering the air, who are driving disease out 
of the world, until they and all that they do 
are for the Kingdom, until they recognize the 
leadership of Christ and cast their crowns at 
His feet, and toil "like unto men that wait for 
their Lord"; where is the barrier that could 
stop the progress of the Gospel? Where is 
the sea wide enough or the mountain high 
enough to block the way of the Kingdom? 

And what more magnificent enterprise can 
there be for the manhood of the modern world 
than this? If it be worthy of a great man's 
powers to dedicate his best ability to chaining 



76 THE PRESBYTERIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

electricity to a dynamo, that it may run a fac- 
tory and do the work of the world, is it un- 
worthy of any man's ability to dedicate his best 
to that divine dynamic which is the power of 
God's Holy Spirit? If it be something to dig 
a ditch and wipe out the barriers between world 
oceans, is it not something to efface barriers 
between races and nations and peoples? If it 
be an achievement for one to fight his way 
through fields of Arctic ice and wave a flag at 
the North Pole, is it not a far greater achieve- 
ment to endure all hardships and privations in 
order to find and rescue a lost brother in this 
winter world? If it be worthy of a man to irri- 
gate a desert and change it into a garden, to 
make coal produce one pound more steam to 
the bushel, to invent a machine that will shorten 
human toil, is it not something to have a share 
in the bringing in of the Kingdom of whose 
increase there shall be no end? 

This is the high call of God to the best man 
of the modern world. It is the call which is 
sounding out in the Men's Missionary Move- 
ment, and in the Men and Eeligion Forward 
Movement, which are in some respects the great- 
est movements of the Christian Church since 
the days of the Eeformation. It is a summons 
to men to enlist for the Kingdom, to dedicate 
themselves to Christ's cause, and to give their 
lives to be built into the civilization that is to 
stand forever. 

It is evident that the appeal of this Kingdom 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 77 

is an appeal that appeals to men. There is 
something in this heroic vision of the Kingdom, 
this dream of world conquest, that captures the 
imagination and fires the heart. The response 
has been tremendous already. The men of the 
Christian nations are waking up to the fact 
that Christianity is a man's religion, that it is 
worthy of his best, and that the highest type of 
man is that man who toils "like unto men that 
wait for their Lord," that never is any man 
so much a man as when he is from heart's cen- 
ter to his finger-tips, everywhere and always, a 
Christian man, striving with all his powers and 
resources of property and personality to estab- 
lish the Kingdom in the world. 

WHAT CAN MEN DO FOE THE KINGDOM? 

They can get interested in it. They can make 
themselves felt. There are numbers of men in 
.the church today who belong to the church, but 
they are not interested in the Kingdom. The 
trouble with them is not that they lack ability, 
but that they lack interest. The best steam 
engine that has been invented gets only about 
15 per cent of the energy out of coal. The re- 
mainder is wasted. Some gas engines, it is said, 
get from 20 to 25 per cent; but in this day, 
when the fuel supply of the world is running 
short, we are wasting at least 75 per cent of our 
coal. Is there not as great a waste of power in 
the unused, undeveloped, uninterested manhood 



78 THE PKESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

in our churches ? What we need is to lay hold 
of this latent power. Man, wake up! Ac- 
knowledge your obligation to Christ. Whatever 
you do, whether you sell goods, or make thread, 
or write insurance, or run a bank, or drive a 
wagon, do it for the kingdom. Let your place 
of work have a window from which you watch 
like unto men who wait for their Lord. What 
irresistible power the church would possess if 
every man in it were alive and aggressive, in- 
terested to his full capacity ! Men, Christianity 
is our business ! 

The men of the Christian Church can shame 
and silence the dirge of hostile criticism of 
Christianity and the Church which may be heard 
on almost every side today, chanted by people 
who have nothing else to do. 

Friendly criticism is not to be feared, but 
welcomed; but hostile criticism, the criticism 
that defames and misrepresents and opposes 
and resists the church, is to be opposed, shamed, 
silenced and refuted. It is a weapon of the foe. 
The air is full of this kind of criticism today. 
Books and magazines and newspapers are at 
work trying to say that the Church is played 
out, that the Gospel is a back number, and the 
Bible untrustworthy. 

All this is hurtful. You could not run any 
business on a program of calamity. If you are 
a banker and have in your employ a clerk who, 
on every possible occasion, intimates that the 
business methods of that bank are questionable, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 79 

that its securities are bad, and that the bank 
itself is shaky, do you think yon would be likely 
to recommend him for an increase of salary? 
Yon would tell him either to shut up or get out, 
and you would treat him right. Suppose you 
are in the insurance business, and a man who 
represents your corporation is found disparag- 
ing its methods of transacting business, and 
suggesting that there is something rotten in the 
enterprise; would you regard him as a friend 
or a foe? Suppose some one is sick in your 
home, and the doctor and nurse put on a look 
of despair every time they enter that sick 
room, and say to the patient: "You look worse 
today. We are afraid you are not going to get 
well." How long would it take you to fire 
them? Confidence is what the world needs to 
transact any kind of business, and nowhere is 
confidence a bigger asset than in winning the 
world to Christ. Believe! Do not criticize — 
but believe ! The men who believe are the men 
who achieve. 

These criticisms are usually based on igno- 
rance. A friend of mine met the author of a 
book entitled "Social Unrest," and spoke to 
him about the great Laymen's Missionary 
Movement Convention that was then about to 
be held in New York City. This gentleman 
asked what the convention was about, and he 
was told that it was in the interest of Foreign 
Missions; that the men who were coming to- 
gether were trying to convert the world. The 



80 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

author of " Social Unrest" expressed great sur- 
prise. He said to my friend : ' ' You don 't mean 
to say that these people are trying to make 
Christians out of heathen; that they are try- 
ing to convert a Chinaman and make him a 
Christian!" My friend said: "That is pre- 
cisely what I mean." "Why, I did not know 
that anybody believed in that sort of thing any 
.longer," replied the gentleman who had written 
on "Social Unrest." He was ignorant of the 
greatest social movement of the day. He had 
gone into a cave and, sitting down in its dark- 
est corner, had written about "Social Unrest," 
unmindful, and perhaps ignorant, of the only 
thing that will ever cure social unrest. 

If there be one thing that men can thoroughly 
believe in, it is the Kingdom. Its success is 
unmistakable. 

The men who know the facts are the men who 
are most thoroughly enlisted. Mr. James Stew- 
art Kennedy, who recently left to the Boards 
of the Presbyterian church several million dol- 
lars for their missionary work, knew what he 
was about. The "Portland Oregonian," a news- 
paper that never loses an opportunity to fling 
at Christianity, said, in an editorial comment- 
ing on Mr. Kennedy's will, that Mr. Kennedy 
was evidently a back number; that he knew 
nothing about modern charity and philanthropy, 
or he would never have left his money to Church 
Boards. The "Oregonian" was ignorant of the 
facts. Mr. Kennedy was a thoroughly up-to- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 81 

date philanthropist. He built the United Char- 
ities Building in New York City ; he endowed a 
School of Philanthropy; and by his direction 
and generosity the great Presbyterian Hospital 
was so developed as to minister to the needs 
of people without reference to sect or class. 
As men get nearer the facts, criticism expires, 
skepticism dies, and they become enthusiastic 
for the kingdom. 

But men can do more than become interested, 
more than shame and silence the hostile criti- 
cism of the Church and its work. They can 
hasten the kingdom. They can engage in per- 
sonal Christian work. They can lead their fel- 
lowmen to Christ. They can become living links 
between the lost world and the Saviour. They 
can see to it that the mission of the Church is 
accomplished. They can get to the firing line 
themselves. The Men and Eeligion Forward 
Movement, if I understand it, is trying to sound 
through the Church this note that shall send 
Christian manhood out on the sort of service 
that those early disciples served when they 
found their brothers and brought them to Jesus. 

Man can pray for the kingdom. Do you men 
pray for the kingdom? Is it so on your heart 
that it is in your daily prayers? Mr. J. Camp- 
bell White told us of a man who came recently 
into his office and said : i i My ambition has been 
to be worth a million dollars, but my ambition 
now is to do something to spread the kingdom 
of Christ in the earth. I have a son at Prince- 



82 THE PBESBYTEBIAN BBOTHEBHOOD 

ton College, and I pray twice a day that lie may 
become a missionary." 

We can give our money to this work. There 
are some of you who are saying that the Church 
is always after money. Yes, the Church is 
always after money, but it is not always getting 
what it is always after. If it were, perhaps it 
would not have to go so often. It is one thing 
to be after money, and it is another thing to 
get it. But is it not to the credit of the Church 
that it is after money? It is a sign that the 
Church is doing something, that it is busy, that 
it is growing. It is a dying Church that has no 
need of money. 

We can give our personal service somewhere 
— here — yonder. We can make our personali- 
ties felt as Christian men, and as men do this, 
the age ceases to be the dog-age of the world. 
It becomes the man-age, the Son-of-Man-age, 
the Christ age. 

What are you doing? What is the kingdom 
to you, and what are you to the kingdom? It 
is said that a pound of coal has enough power 
in it to carry it around the world. If the sun 
can shine energy into a dull, dead thing like 
a lump of coal and store it with power like that, 
is it too much to believe that the God who has 
been shining His love and His power into the 
human soul from the first moment of its ex- 
istence, meant it to have a shorter circuit? How 
far are you making yourself felt? In your per- 
sonal moods and conduct? You must go further 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 83 

than that. In your family, among your neigh- 
bors, in your church, in your community and 
your nation? You must go further than that. 
You must send your influence, your energy, 
yourself around the world, for you can. 

One day, on the streets of Chicago, a man who 
was very active in Christian work was shot 
down. He lingered for many hours in great 
pain. His pastor, a friend of mine, who was 
with him, said : 

"I want to ask you this question, whether 
you are to go or whether you are to stay, can 
you say to God, 'Thy will be done'?" 

Without a moment's hesitation, he said: 

"Of course I can. I have no use for my life 
except to serve the will of God. ' ' 

What use have we for our lives? What are 
you waiting for? What are you watching for? 
What are you working for? How big is your 
business? How wide is your sky? How lofty 
is your horizon? "Like unto men who wait for 
their Lord?" 



OPEN CONFERENCE. 

Led by Judge Selden P. Spencer, St. Louis, Mo. 

Judge Spencek: — I read the footnote on the 
program that this conference will be open for 
free discussion and will help to relate the 
Brotherhood vitally to this movement, and I 
call your attention to the fact that this is a con- 
ference and not an address on the subject. 

Already the Council by its unanimous vote 
has related the Brotherhood to "The Men and 
Eeligion Forward Movement." The import- 
ance, therefore, of knowing what it is, and why 
it is, and when it is and where it is, and how it 
is to be conducted, is manifest ; and it is for that 
purpose, first, that this conference is to be held ; 
and, secondly, this conference is to be the prepa- 
ration for the more important topic of prayer 
and intercession which immediately follows this 
open conference. How many men here heard 
Dr. Barbour last night on "Men and Eeligion"? 
Now will those men who were here, but have not 
in any way up to this time participated in this 
Men and Eeligion Forward Movement, will you 
kindly raise your hands? 

I will ask the Vice Chairman of that move- 
ment if he is in the house, in a moment, to tell 
us what The Men and Eeligion Forward Move- 

84 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 85 

ment is ; and before I ask him I want to ask the 
audience that any question that suggests itself 
to the mind of any man is probably a question 
that would suggest itself to the minds of other 
men, and please be prompt in asking it. I call 
your attention to the further fact that the ac- 
celerated motion of this movement is in the 
increasing participation of laymen, and we are 
a part of it; and doubtless this afternoon there 
will be suggestions the wisdom of which and the 
practicability of which will be of immense use- 
fulness in the carrying out of this movement ; so 
please be prompt in suggestions, as well as 
prompt in question. I give this word of per- 
sonal testimony before God, I have never known 
of a movement for the presentation of Jesus 
Christ to the manhood of North America that 
began to equal in the wideness of its scope, or 
in the greatness of its possibilities, this Men 
and Religion Forward Movement, about which 
we are to confer today. Is Mr. Thompson, Vice 
Chairman of the Committee of Ninety-seven, 
here? 

Charles T. Thompson: — I will endeavor to 
leave plenty of time for those who are to follow 
me. When I was asked just before the adjourn- 
ment this morning to speak to the topic, I en- 
deavored to prepare in my own mind a concise 
definition of this movement. I found it a diffi- 
cult matter, but I would express it in this way — 
this is an organized, united effort on the part 
of the men of the Evangelical Protestant 



86 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

Churches of North America to awaken and 
quicken the religious sense in the hearts and 
minds of men and boys in North America, — a 
very comprehensive thing. In order to tell you 
what it is, I am going to tell you what it is not. 

First : — It is not exclusively a laymen's move- 
ment. Bear in mind, you who are pastors, we 
expect your assistance in this work. We lay- 
men have taken upon ourselves the responsibil- 
ity of putting this machinery in operation. We 
have had the assistance of multitudes of conse- 
crated noble pastors, men who represent large 
churches, but this is not exclusively a layman's 
work. It is for the men, laymen and clergymen, 
to take up and carry on. 

Second : — It is not exclusively an evangelistic 
movement. The first objective we have is to 
reach, consecrate, and bring to the feet of the 
Saviour men and boys throughout the United 
States and Canada. 

The reason for this is clear. The men and 
the women in North America are about equally 
divided as to sexes. There are about the same 
number of men as of women, and yet it is a fact, 
a startling fact, an alarming fact, at the present 
time there are in round numbers three million 
more women and girls in the Evangelical 
Churches than men and boys ; and the primary 
object is to bring these three million to the feet 
of the Saviour. Our work is to be more far- 
reaching, and to conserve the Christian forces 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 87 

that are just brought into the church and are 
already in the church. 

Third: — It is not a permanent organization. 
It is the desire of this movement to set in mo- 
tion this machinery to produce certain results 
and link them up to the life of the Christian 
Church. "We do not want to set aside the; 
Church. We do not want another organization 
working outside or in the Church. We are a 
movement to produce certain results and then 
to link up to the Church, the organized Church 
of Christ, which we emphasize at all times, 
whatever we have been able to conserve. 

Fourth : — It is not antagonistic to the Church. 
At the Conference at Buffalo we adopted cer- 
tain resolutions. There are two or three hun- 
dred copies of this program which has been 
sent out by this movement, which have been 
placed in the front vestibule of the church, which 
you can have, and which will give you an idea. 
"We emphasize our belief in the Church of 
Jesus Christ as the one instrumentality ap- 
pointed by Him for the salvation of the world, 
and that the organizations united in this move- 
ment are only agencies of the Church, through 
which it can carry on its ministry, etc." You 
see how we emphasize the Church. 

The next thing. Its aim is to take the men 
and boys already in the Church and those who 
may go in, and make them just as effective as 
possible for the service of our Lord and Mas- 



88 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

ter, and through their agency make the Church 
itself effective for the salvation of the world. 

Our objectives are these: We desire "to se- 
cure, on the part of the men and boys of this 
generation, personal faith, leading them to the 
conformity of their wills to the will of God." 
We aim "to enroll men and boys in the sys- 
tematic and daily study of the Holy Scriptures." 
We aim "to continue and increase the emphasis 
of the Christian religion as the one and only 
hope of the world, and make the abiding mis- 
sionary enterprises of the Church, at home and 
abroad, the most vital and permanent element in 
Christian life," etc. 

In brief, it is this : First, win the men and 
boys who are out of the Church to the feet of the 
Saviour. 

Second, take those men and boys and the 
men and boys already in the Church, put the 
spirit of Christ more and more into them if we 
can, give them an objective, and show that the 
religion of Jesus Christ is the greatest affair 
that can be offered in this world. Make it as 
efficient as we can. Find the means by which we 
can do it and take them all ; link them up as a 
permanent factor in the life of the Christian 
Church we love so dearly. 

Judge Spencek : — What questions suggest 
themselves to anyone? 

Me. Holt: — What is the precise thing any 
presbyterial brotherhood can do to help this 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 89 

forward, whether in a large city or small vil- 
lage? 

(From the floor) : — Is it an undenominational 
movement? 

Judge Spencer: — Yes, sir, absolutely. 

Mr. Thompson : — The following Brotherhoods 
have been pledged to it : 

The Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip. 

The Baptist Brotherhood. 

The Brotherhood of Disciples of Christ. 

The Congregational Brotherhood of America. 

The Gideons (Commercial Travelers). 

The International Sunday School Associa- 
tion. 

The Lutheran Brotherhood. 

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew. 

The Methodist Brotherhood. 

The Otterbein Brotherhood (United Brethren 
Church). 

The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America. 

The United Presbyterian Brotherhood. 

The International Committee of Y. M. C. A. 

They are all pledged to it. 

Mr. Bowe, Toledo, Ohio: — What is the first 
step to take to affiliate our local societies with 
this movement? 

Judge Spencer : — If you are one of the ninety 
cities, that matter will be taken care of by your 
local committee. I throw out for information, 



90 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD 

but not for discussion, that it has been sug- 
gested that the Eoman Catholic Church might 
well participate in this forward movement. It 
is an effort on the part of Christian organiza- 
tions, let us get this clear, and Christian lay- 
men in North America, to present Jesus Christ 
to the men of North America for salvation ; and 
the service of Jesus Christ to the men of North 
America for life. That is the purpose of the 
movement, confined to North America. Is there 
any need for it ? That map back of me has three 
colors in each circle. The yellow color repre- 
sents the non-Christian element in each state, 
and here (indicating) the proportion of the non- 
Christian element in the United States. The 
data for Canada are not yet available. The red 
portion in each state and in the aggregate, in 
the larger circle, represents the Eoman Cath- 
olic population. The green represents the 
Protestant population. The proportion is evi- 
dent by the space occupied by the several colors. 
The little space of white is all other sects of 
people that are not included in one of the three 
larger divisions, non-Christian, Eoman Catholic 
and Protestant. I want to ask a question why 
this movement is necessary, and Mr. Husted, if 
here, I want to answer it. But before he an- 
swers it, I call attention to the fact that the 
movement is in progress now. It has started. 
In ninety cities which have been selected (they 
will be called the center), in each one of these 
ninety cities the program which at your leisure 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 91 

you can read (from these two charts upon my 
left hand and your right hand) — in each one of 
these ninety cities there will be conducted a 
plan of campaign that will be outlined in a mo- 
ment. We will commence in September of this 
year 1911, and will end in May, 1912, and be- 
tween now and September, 1911, there will be 
preparatory work in each one of these ninety 
centers. 

James D. Husted, Denver : — If there is an ex- 
planation, or a definition, it would take more 
time than I can give ; yet I think the very fact 
stated this afternoon as to what is to be at- 
tempted will indicate the underlying feeling in 
the thought of Christian men that the need ex- 
isted to do the things. Now once for all in the 
history of the past five years there has come to 
us a conviction that the Christian men of Amer- 
ica are to arise to an opportunity for service; 
for the kingdom has need for the biggest men 
of the country. We see that we ourselves as 
business men have not measured up to the de- 
gree of activity and usefulness we have dis- 
played in our business lives. Within the last 
twenty-five years perhaps, in their active, 
earnest, intelligent, business effort they have de- 
veloped more skill, more training and more abil- 
ity to reach the other man in their business life 
than they have in their Christian life. The rela- 
tive importance of a Christian man should be 
maintained. The conviction has come, on the 
part of many Christian men, that, having at- 



92 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

tained that reasonable degree of success to 
which they have looked forward legitimately, 
that their strength may well be applied for the 
remaining years of their life definitely toward 
the extension of the kingdom of God. 

The suggestions have been made to us as to 
the tremendous growth of this country. Mr. 
Cannon, the President of the Fourth National 
Bank of New York City, and the Chairman of 
the great committee having charge of the for- 
warding of this movement, said to me, that so 
far as he was concerned, the reason he proposed 
to give his time and strength and money was 
because he observed that over this country there 
was a tremendous increase of wealth ; and if we 
should not bring men in by some organized 
movement which would bring all the existing 
organizations into active co-operation, he him- 
self feared for the future of this country; be- 
cause men not led into the kingdom, and pos- 
sessing great wealth and having large influ- 
ence, if they should continue to use their money 
along the lines to which they had given their 
thought, would far outstrip the Christian men, 
who, having the same ability to accumulate 
money, were not using it to the utmost develop- 
ment in Christian things. That motive alone is 
.enough to force us into the movement. 

Then will you consider the tremendous army 
of young men and boys growing up, not thor- 
oughly equipped, not thoroughly educated along 
the line of Christian service. You know how we 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 93 

fail nowadays to train our young men in the 
Word of God as they should be trained. In 
your own community, as it is with all of us, 
there is no such training given as existed a gen- 
eration ago. Shall we, possessing our own op- 
portunity in our own time, allow these young 
men coming into manhood to slip away from the 
only thing that is worth while? Get your fig- 
ures; it will astonish you the number that are 
going to make the first use of their franchise 
this year. I think it is a grand thing that a 
large number of men, moved by a simultaneous 
feeling that something should be done to bring 
together the Brotherhood Organization, the 
Sunday School Organization, and the Gideon 
Organization, should all unite together in one 
movement, in which cooperation should be the 
most marked of all its features; and with the 
use of time, strength, force and ability on the 
part of these strong men of the country, there 
should be brought to bear on the feeling of un- 
rest abroad in the land, that with our increas- 
ing knowledge, culture and money, we never- 
theless are laying hold on the strenuous needs 
of the time. 

A movement, for the first time in the history 
of the country, where all forces should be united 
for inspirational and educational effort and 
turn the work over to the Church, is what leads 
me to voice the reason why the movement should 
be supported. 



94 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Delegate :— I would like to ask where the sta- 
tistics for that large map were obtained. Surely 
that cannot be the situation in our country. 

Judge Spencer: — The statistics, if I am not 
mistaken, were taken from the United States 
Census Eeports and based primarily upon 
church membership — Protestant, Roman-Cath- 
olic and non-Christian. 

I want to ask another man to say a word, if 
he is here, how this movement is to carry on this 
work. Before he speaks, I call attention to 
what Mr. Thompson said a moment ago. I do 
not suppose if a man was asked what was the 
most important thing in our life, he would hesi- 
tate for a moment to say, the religion of Jesus 
Christ. I have no doubt men whom we work 
with, or men who work under us, or men who 
see us in profession or factory, may well have a 
doubt as to whether from our conduct we really 
think that Jesus Christ is the most important 
thing in our lives. That is the reason for the 
difference between the laboring man and the 
Church today, or one of them. That is one of 
the reasons why three million more women are 
in the Church than men. That is one of the 
reasons for the doubt and indifference that is 
growing toward matters of Jesus Christ in 
North America. To meet that, as Mr. Husted 
so well said, there is to be a concentrated effort 
on behalf of Christian Organizations and Chris- 
tian Men, to present to the men and boys of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 95 

North America the religion of Jesus Christ, 
and to do it by a simultaneous effort that shall 
confine it within a definite time for its begin- 
ning, so that its results may run on through the 
years to come. 

Key. Ira Landrith, D.D., Nashville, Tenn: — 
I do not believe that there has at any time, any- 
where, been stated more definitely and more suc- 
cintly the purpose of this Movement than is 
stated in the report of the National Council to 
this convention. I think The Men and Religion 
Forward Movement is a great united effort, to 
do in a short while much of the work which the 
Presbyterian and other Brotherhoods are do- 
ing, but more slowly than is practicable with a 
passing generation. This work is to be done as 
was explained last night by the organization of 
ninety cities, each with a committee of one hun- 
dred of the best religious life of all denomina- 
tions in that city. This committee of one hun- 
dred, if nothing were done but to organize that 
committee and set it to work on the moral life of 
the men and boys, if no experts came, would be 
well worth the effort. The cause of religion in 
any city needs the communion and co-operation 
of all the workers in any special line of religious 
activity, and if you will throw together the hun- 
dred best religious workers in St. Louis and 
keep them in compact religious activity for 
eighteen months it will do tremendous things 
for the religious work of this city. The plan is 



96 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

for a ten days' campaign, when there shall come 
ten or twelve of the world's greatest specialists 
along the lines given to yon, who will give a 
well ronnded religions life message to the men 
and boys of this city. If no Committee of One 
Hundred were organized, and yon conld get 
the men of the community to listen, the pastors, 
the religions leaders to listen, at the feet of 
these ten world-famed specialists in evangelistic 
work for men and how to do it ; in work for boys, 
and how best that work is to be accomplished; 
in social service, and how the churches may go 
on and do this service ; and in all the other lines 
of activities proposed — that would be worth all 
it costs. Long before the time comes, and many 
a year after it has gone, the trained community 
in which the meetings have been held, the 
trained ninety centers, will be centers of light, 
down to every city and village and country place 
within reach of that city; and, as has been said, 
this movement is not to end in 1912, it is merely 
to begin in 1912, and that campaign upon which 
we have entered is a campaign for twenty years 
and not for one. I hold in my hands the names 
of the Committee of Ninety-seven, from which 
I read the names of men, whose very names 
when they are spoken, make every newspaper 
man sit up and take notice. Men who, when 
they speak, will get the opportunity of utter- 
ance through the press of this country as no 
religious movement has had persistently for 
many months at a time ; men who will create an 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 97 

interest in the cause of humanity to set every 
man in a street car talking. 

Tomorrow, in the city of New York, four 
members of this Presbyterian Brotherhood out 
of the eleven members that have absolute charge 
in an executive way of this whole movement 
were expected to meet to choose the ninety cities 
and set to work the great movement; so if Pres- 
byterians do not have their own way, or as much 
of it as it pleases the Lord to let them have, it 
is because the Presbyterians are too modest; 
but our friends have never accused us of that 
vice. 

Judge Spencer: — For a moment, putting in 
the form of a picture that which Dr. Landrith 
has stated, let us look at Detroit. Supposing 
that Detroit were selected as one of the ninety 
cities; they have not all been selected, — none 
will be selected except those cities who greatly 
desire it and care to carry out the plan after the 
work has been done in that city, — suppose De- 
troit were selected as one of those cities. In 
the city of Detroit there would be selected a com- 
mittee of one hundred laymen, interdenomina- 
tional, who would commence at once by publica- 
tion, by billboard advertisement, if it were 
deemed wise, by street car advertising, by space 
in the daily paper, by articles in the weekly and 
monthly magazines, to impress on the people of 
that community that men were interested in 
the salvation of other men. If any man in this 



98 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

audience has been identified with a political 
campaign, the same kind of aggressive putting 
forth of information about the relative merits 
of the party to which you happen to belong, is 
the foundation of the publicity department 
of this Men and Eeligion Forward Movement. 
That would start at once; the necessary sub- 
committees would start and their preparatory 
work along those lines would continue until 
some time between September, 1911, and May, 
1912. During those months, in the city of De- 
troit, there would be concentrated an eight-day 
campaign, in which a team would be brought 
from the outside, consisting of a Bible student, 
like Scofield; an Evangelist, like Chapman; a 
singer, like Alexander; and shopmen familiar 
with work among the shopmen, like Willis; a 
worker among boys, like Eobinson ; and men fa- 
miliar with machinery, like Stelzle. Eight or 
ten teams would go into that city for a final ef- 
fort for eight days. I asked Dr. Barbour what 
he considered the most important part of the 
Men and Eeligion Forward Movement. He said 
at once, it is not the team work, it is the prepa- 
ratory work of the local committee. The team 
work is the ending, the gathering in of the work. 
During these eight days in Detroit, that team 
of Bible students, of religious work among 
working men, of evangelistic services for men 
and boys, branching out into stores and shops, 
would culminate in great meetings for the pres- 
entation of Jesus Christ in Detroit ; in that city 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 99 

the eight-day campaign would end as the team 
left on a similar campaign in another one of the 
ninety cities; but that would not end Detroit's 
work. One of the obligations of the central com- 
mittee is that Detroit agrees to see to it that that 
same campaign which has just been finished in 
Detroit, shall be duplicated in the cities around 
Detroit, as far off as Bay City, Monroe, Mount 
Clemens, and cities contiguous to Detroit with- 
in fifty or a hundred miles ; and those cities in 
turn duplicating the general plan of work which 
has just been had in Detroit agree that when 
that work is finished that those cities shall dupli- 
cate it again in the towns immediately surround- 
ing those secondary cities; and thus the work 
for years, as Dr. Landrith outlined it, continues. 
It is not for the day. 

Nolan E. Best, New York City: — I should 
like to express the hope, which I rather think 
would be reflected in the mind of this conven- 
tion, that we shall be very careful of the democ- 
racy of this whole movement. I do not like to 
criticise Dr. Barbour in his absence, but one 
could not help noticing when he described the 
composition of the committee of one hundred 
which are to be in control, he spoke of them as 
being composed of the leading professional and 
business men of the city. It was an accident of 
speech, yet one cannot help seeing in the compo- 
sition of this Committee of Ninety-Seven that 
it is exclusively of the business and professional 



100 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

classes, if I mistake not in my knowledge. I 
hope that will not be pressed in the ninety cities. 
Since this Committee of Ninety-Seven is so 
elastic that it contains one hundred and ten 
members, I hope that there shall be added the 
names of important and influential laboring- 
men in this country; and of those of us who, 
while we cannot call ourselves laboring men, are 
fain to call ourselves salaried men. It is known 
to us with great delight that the Secretary and 
the Treasurer of the National Federation of 
Labor are earnest evangelical churchmen; and 
many of the leaders of the constituent labor 
unions are likewise earnest Christian men, and 
they ought to have by all means their voice in 
this movement. We shall not detract anything 
from the professional and business men who 
are leading them, if we add strong and repre- 
sentative working men to the committees at 
least. We shall have no difficulty in finding 
them; there is not such a complete severance 
between the Church and the workingman that 
it will be any task to hunt out men who will be 
leaders in this work, as the bankers and profes- 
sional men of all sorts already identified with 
it. We must remember if this movement is to 
express itself it must be a democratic move- 
ment; it must not address itself, for lack of a 
better term, to the upper classes; but must in 
all its relations spring democratically and spon- 
taneously out of the heart of the Church, know- 
ing no classes but including all. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 1Q1 

James D. Husted, Denver, Colo. : — A word il- 
lustrative of the sentiment of the local com- 
munities. I have just come from the organiza- 
tion of the Committee of One Hundred in our 
own city. One of the most influential members 
is a cook on the dining car of a railroad; an- 
other most influential member of that commit- 
tee is foreman of a machine shop, who is looked 
upon as a leader of Christian workers in Den- 
ver. "We mean by "leading men," the men 
who go out and do things for Jesus Christ re- 
gardless of the fact whether they are known as 
business men or not, and I think that is abso- 
lutely the true measure of the activity, the in- 
fluence, and the power and standing of the 
Christian man, whether he does things or not. 
Another man whom we love to honor is a man 
who is superintendent of a Eescue Mission, and 
for six years was a man who was dodging the 
officers who were trying to arrest him for a 
crime which he had committed, and when he 
found Jesus Christ he took his place among the 
most influential men in the truest sense. 



PEAYEE AND INTEECESSION. 

BY REV. JOHN TIMOTHY STONE, D.D., CHICAGO, ILL. 

Gentlemen, before we enter upon this subject, 
let us all unite in prayer: 

Our Father and our God, we know that thou 
art here to guide us, and we know that we are 
thy children, but we would feel closer to thee ; 
we would realize our weakness as we realize thy 
strength. We would realize thy power and our 
personal relationship to thee in the exercise of 
thy power. Oh, God, we pray that we may learn 
during these moments together, with the re- 
newed energy of expression in our lives, what 
it means to be co-laborers with thee; what it 
means to be the expression of thy power to 
man; what it means to let thee clothe thyself 
with us ; and may we gain the presence of thy 
Spirit so definitely that we may see Jesus Christ 
in His manhood, in His reality, and feel that 
we are with the Son of God, as thou dost walk 
with us in the way and as thou dost make real 
to us the teachings of thyself as to what we 
should do for our fellow men. We ask thee to 
use the few moments at the close of this session 
to show us thyself and make us instruments of 

102 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 103 

thyself that thou mayest use us. We ask it in 
Christ's name. Amen. 

The former speaker used some small, strong 
words for expression. I want to use some as 
well ; they are effective words. Let us take the 
words with, from, for, and in. The unlimited 
with God; the inexhaustible from God; the im- 
possible for God ; and the final in God. 

Now if we have the meaning of these great 
truths and realities, we have guaranteed the 
success, from the very beginning, of this whole 
Movement. The present strength of democracy 
is the use of personal forces. The Church of 
the living God today is going to solve the prob- 
lem for the future, in the right use and the 
proper administration of that which she now 
possesses. We have all the machinery we need, 
as we know. The question is, is God going to 
use that machinery or is man to use it? We 
have been learning, as the years have gone by, 
the rare human danger of personality apart 
from God, personality centered in man, rather 
than controlled by God. This movement is to 
be a movement of permanency if it is to be 
strong. The organization, we have heard, is 
not to be permanent, but the work is to be per- 
manent. The revival that comes and goes is 
not a revival as God defines religion. God 
said, "Let there be light," but that light was 
eternal, and that light was from the begin- 
ning and shall continue. I believe we want to 
realize from the very first that the unlimited 



104 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

with Him is ours in prayer. That the inex- 
haustible is ours. "My God shall supply all 
your need according to His riches in glory in 
Christ Jesus." That we are to attempt that 
which is absolutely impossible, for Him; and 
we are to realize that the final is ours as He 
Himself is to accomplish all. 

I want to recall to your minds scripture which 
brings this out very clearly. I wish those of 
you who have Bibles or Testaments with you 
would turn to the third chapter of Ephesians. 
Paul, in the eighth verse in the third chapter of 
Ephesians, says, "Unto me, who am less than 
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that 
I should preach among the Gentiles the un- 
searchable riches of Christ ; and to make all men 
see what is the fellowship of the mystery" — 
that is where the faith comes in, — "which from 
the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, 
who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the 
intent" (here is the purpose of it), "to the in- 
tent that now unto the principalities and powers 
in heavenly places might be known by the 
Church the manifold wisdom of God. ' ' This is 
a movement of the Church of God universally. 
There is no word substitute for the great word 
Church of God. Men and Eeligion means that 
the Church of God, in all her varied functions, 
is accomplishing God's work. The Young Men's 
Christian Association is just as much a part of 
the Church of God. It is not an organization 
which relates itself to the Church; it is the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 105 

Church acting in a different capacity. Every 
organization is the Church of God. Again no- 
tice this verse, "to the intent that now unto 
principalities and powers in heavenly places, 
might be known by the Church the manifold 
wisdom of God." Every business man, every 
artisan, every laboring man, is the manifold 
wisdom of God. 

Now note, — it started from the beginning, — 
"according to the eternal purpose which he pur- 
posed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we 
have boldness and access with confidence 
by the faith of him. "Wherefore I desire 
that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, 
which is your glory. For this cause I bow my 
knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, ' ' here is the catholic element in it all, the 
catholicity of God's great truth, "of whom the 
ivhole family in heaven and earth is named, that 
He would grant you, according to the riches of 
His glory, to be strengthened with might by His 
Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell 
in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to compre- 
hend with all saints, what is the breadth, 
and length and depth, and height ; and to know 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, 
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of 
God." He does not stop; this is the reason 
he prays, "Now unto Him who is able to do 
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask 
or think, according to the power that worketh 



106 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

in us, unto Him be the glory in the church by- 
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world with- 
out end." 

Now, men, the power is God's. God is going 
to use this movement just in so far as you and 
I believe that God is in this movement; and 
what the world wants today is less emphasis 
upon human personality and more recognition 
of the power of God. And when we realize that 
no set of men or no organization which we our- 
selves may form, in itself, can be sufficient to 
do this work permanently and constructively 
in the Church of God, then we shall use aright 
every organization that comes to us, as God- 
sent and God-used, and depending upon Him 
will receive the blessing. Men, if ever we 
want to believe in prayer, we want to be- 
lieve in it now. The Church of God must 
work as it prays. When Baltimore was burn- 
ing up, we did not know where to hold our 
evening service; more than a hundred of our 
people were being burned out in their places 
of business. Ten young men who had confessed 
Christ in the morning saw their places of busi- 
ness burned to the ground before night. We 
decided to have a meeting in the prayer-meeting 
room. Word came to some of us that they 
needed some reinforcements to go to the city 
hospitals. After closing the prayer meeting, 
and exchanging Prince Albert coats for sweat- 
ers, we ran down town, but we were praying 
as we ran. What the Church wants is a pray- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 1Q7 

ing force as we work; active prayer, working 
as we pray. 

When I was a lad I was placed in charge of 
forty or fifty Sunday School children on a pic- 
nic. We were all in one of those large carry- 
all wagons. We had stopped at a little tavern 
to get another driver, but the horses took 
fright and started to run away. In my help- 
less fright as I came out the door I instinctively 
ran into an orchard and under an apple tree I 
kneeled down, and poured out my soul in prayer 
for the safety of those children; but if I had 
known more, I would not have gone under that 
apple tree; I would have taken my legs down 
after that team, praying as I ran. What we 
want is an active sympathetic spirit in activity. 

We need also an absolute dependence on the 
Almighty. We need to believe that nothing 
which we can do, can substitute for what He 
must do if the work is to be effective. It was 
my privilege Sunday morning in preaching be- 
fore the students of the University of Chi- 
cago to say, there is no power, mental or phys- 
ical, in the name of religion, which can substi- 
tute for the supernatural in our faith. A stu- 
dent came up to me later and said, "that is 
the one thing I need, and that is the definition 
of a faith which means reality to my life." 

Men, the world wants that truth. The world 
wants us to believe in God and believe in prayer. 
Talk about prayer, but live prayer and act 
prayer. A few years ago at the Mohonk Con- 



108 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

ference there came before us an Indian, and 
on his face were those lines of character and 
force that make us respect those who trod these 
shores before we trod them. He stood before 
that assembly and looked into our faces and 
never uttered a word. We were embarrassed, 
but he was not embarrassed. He stood a mo- 
ment, he stood two moments ; and the room was 
as still as the very silence of death, not a smile. 
And then in a deep wholesome tone that came 
from nature, and it seemed as though it came 
from the very recesses of the forest, he told us 
in a simple way, that "what the Indians of the 
United States wanted was Jesu; what they 
wanted was to know how to talk and read Bible ; 
and how to pray and how give life for fellow 
Indian; and how to help squaw and how to 
help child and how to make schools ; but what 
Indian wants is to know that Jesu is in his 
heart, and that he is praying all the time, and 
that he is living with the One who loves him, 
and with God his Father." Tears were in that 
audience. Mr. Smiley rose afterward and said : 
"Do you know the Indians of this tribe have 
a custom before they speak, of looking into the 
faces of their audience as they pray; they want 
to look into the face of men as they look into 
the face of God. All the time our brother was 
standing before us he was praying that he 
might say what we needed and that God might 
voice his thought. ' ' This is what we need. Men 
do not want to hear us. Men are sick of hear- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 109 

ing men that have to say something, instead of 
men who have something to say. There is a 
great difference. If we are born of God and 
God is using us, and like Gideon of old, if God 
' ' clothes Himself with us, ' ' if we are filled with 
all the fulness of God — (I do not know what 
that means, I want to know) — if God, as with 
Gideon of old, clothes Himself with us, how will 
this Men's Movement vitalize and release every 
quality that is Godlike in every human heart. 
How it will surely thrill. 

"Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, 
neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
the things" (not there, the things here), "which 
God hath prepared for them that love Him." 
Into the great ranks of the Church of God uni- 
versal, we need the strong iron in the blood, we 
need the reality of a manhood, that speaks and 
appeals to the man outside the Church, — labor- 
ing man, banker, professor, whatever he may 
be ; and tells him that God in Jesus Christ will 
have him. And he may live and die in the 
intensity of a purpose to represent Him; to 
give Him to the world in this ordinary, sane, 
and singular spiritual religious Movement. 

Now men, may we pray for this ? I want the 
last few moments of this half hour to be spent 
in earnest petition that God may tell us what 
to do. Let us in all the sincerity and earnest- 
ness of our manhood, ask God to give us 
the power of believing, determined, persistent 
prayer here and constantly, that God may use 



HO THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

us in our churches. Let us bow in prayer, and 
as you are led by the Spirit of God, sincerely 
and directly and specifically, will you lead us 
in prayer now ; and let there be no vacant mo- 
ment, but if there be one, let us plead with God 
unitedly in silent prayer. 

Nolan E. Best: — Our Father in Heaven, we 
earnestly pray this great vision which thou hast 
given thy servants at this time, for the bring- 
ing into thy kingdom and for the quickening of 
the life of those who have hitherto given their 
allegiance to thee, we beseech that thou will 
consecrate and fill it with thy power ; and grant 
that this may be the time of breaking forth of 
new streams of pure life-giving power. In the 
name of our Saviour. Amen. 

Chaeles S. Holt : — Wilt thou forbid that we 
should be so wrapped up in the thought of 
machinery as to forget our own souls' needs. 
As we contemplate this great opportunity, we 
cast ourselves at thy feet for the cleansing 
power of the Holy Spirit that we may be instru- 
ments for use. 

Eev. Andeew V. V. Eaymond, D.D. : — Our 
Heavenly Father, we realize our weakness, but 
thou art mighty; and our prayer is thou wilt 
help us to turn to thee all our hearts in such a 
way that thy might and power may come into 
our lives ; that thou wilt help us to realize that 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION m 

the work is thine and the power is thine; and 
may we as we look back to the days when our 
Lord and Master sent His disciples forth, real- 
ize how impossible it was for them to do the 
work He commanded them to do until they were 
filled with His Spirit ; as we talk of His work, 
grant we may pray each for His Spirit, without 
which our effort will be in vain. 

Bless, we pray thee, the one in responsible 
charge of this movement. May the spirit of 
the living God possess him; grant that in all 
of his purposes and plans, in every word he 
utters, the wisdom and power of God may be 
revealed. 

May the whole land be awakened as never 
before by the appeal of Jesus Christ ; and may 
God be manifest in so many lives that multi- 
tudes may be brought to believe in Him and 
have Him to reign over them. In the Name of 
Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. 



THE LOCAL CHURCH AND 
THE BROTHERHOOD 



THE BEOTHEEHOOD AND INDIVIDUAL 

EESPONSIBILITY IN THE 

CHUECH 

BY REV. MAITLAND ALEXANDER, D.D., 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Fellow Members of the Presbyterian Church : 
—I come to speak to yon here tonight in the 
face of all that we have heard today, and of a 
great deal that we have heard in the past few 
years, concerning some great movements which 
have characterized the modern advance in 
Christian practice; to speak to yon in behalf 
of the underlying thing which makes what we 
have heard tonight of men and the Christian 
religion a possibility. That institution and or- 
ganization upon which every part of the super- 
structure of the conquest of the world for Jesus 
must rest. That organization is the Church of 
the living God. My subject has been given to 
me: "Our Brotherhood and Our Personal Ee- 
sponsibility to the Church," and before we can 
get any further in this discussion it is necessary 
for us to understand definitely what we mean 
when we speak of the Church of God. "What is 
our view of this organization which has come 
under the fiery tongue of criticism, which has 

115 



116 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

had to bear the brunt of great opposition, and 
from which sometimes we ourselves feel that we 
need to be lifted by some new inspiration and 
new power, because we have got into what we 
call a rut? 

There are many views held of the Church of 
God. Some hold the corporate view, and be- 
lieve it is a corporation gathered to do a cer- 
tain work. Some believe the Church of God 
is an educational institution, for the propaga- 
tion of certain truths in its possession which 
men must learn. A great many people think the 
Church is a kind of club, or an association of 
like-minded men and women, and we are in dan- 
ger of forgetting that the Church is a divine 
institution, put into the world under the sanc- 
tion of Almighty God through His Son, Jesus 
Christ. We are, I am afraid, drifting away 
from the idea that the Church is the Ark of 
God, and over and above it and in it is the 
Shekinah which indicates the presence of the 
Glory of God. We are sometimes forgetting, 
too, but we were reminded of it in the first 
address today, that the Church is the Body of 
Christ, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, the finished 
work of Jesus, and that for which He died that 
it might one day be presented without spot or 
wrinkle or any such thing before the throne of 
His Father. I believe we can not take too 
high an idea of the organized Christian Church. 
It is good for us to go back again to those early 
days when from the Mount of Olives, twelve 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 117 

men, the organized Church, went down to Jeru- 
salem to wait until the power of the living God 
should come down upon them and endow them 
to accomplish their mission. One of the most 
humbling things to me in all the divine revela- 
tion is that into the hands of us men has been 
given this body of truth, this trust. It is a trust 
of knowledge, it is a trust of faith, and it is a 
trust of power ; and it has been given to us by 
the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I stand to the 
world in the position of Trustees for this great 
thing, this gospel, which has come to us from 
the hands of God; which shall issue, if we are 
faithful, in the regeneration of the world, and 
in the bringing of all men to a saving knowledge 
of Him whom to know aright is life eternal. 

One of the most touching things in all the 
Bible is the idea which Jesus Christ Himself 
had about His Church. Do you remember that 
day when He had about Him that little company 
of the apostles, and the great conversation took 
place between Simon Peter and Himself about 
His Diety? Jesus Himself understood that 
Peter would stand in the judgment hall and 
deny Him. He foresaw that Judas would take 
the thirty pieces of silver. Jesus understood 
that the twelve disciples would forsake Him 
and flee, but in the face of the inconstancy of 
these first members, the Master flings back into 
the face of the opposition of all History, His 
personal pledge that the gates of hell should not 
prevail against His Church. 



118 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Who constitute the successors of these first 
members of the Church? The membership of 
a Church, as I understand it, is composed of 
men and women who have taken upon them- 
selves to publicly confess their faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, and to 
take, whether verbally or silently, a solemn, 
sacramental obligation in which they promise 
they will do what Christ would have them do 
for the advancement of His kingdom, for the 
spread of His truth, and the glory of His name. 
I do not think that any Christian Church can 
contravene that definition of what it means to 
be a member of the Church. Here we have 
the divine side; yonder we have the human 
side. Here we have the promised power ; there 
we have the sacramental obligation. Here we 
have God revealing to man the whole splendid 
plan of redemption for the world. There we 
have men earnestly, unconstrainedly, longingly, 
lovingly, taking into their hands from His 
pierced hand this sacred trusteeship that His 
will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
Uncoerced, we men have accepted His service ; 
now we must see to it whether our work is being 
done faithfully. 

I am sorry to believe that men are drawn out 
from the definite work of the Church by calls 
which seem good of themselves, but not directly 
in line with the work of the kingdom. I can 
think now of an elder in the Presbyterian 
Church, a good man, a strong man, but who 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION H9 

felt that he could not find in his own church 
work for his enthusiasm, and so he got to tak- 
ing up outside things — religious things in a 
measure, a certain type of religious and philan- 
thropic service, all very good in its way; but 
that man let go the things he had promised to 
do when he united with the Church of God, and 
obligated himself to do in his own church. He 
does not go to his evening service. He does not 
get to prayer meeting. He does not do the 
things that belong to the routine work of the 
kingdom. He does not keep his pew full of 
unchurched men; does not do any of. the things 
he ought to do in support of his own personal 
and individual church. I do not believe that is 
right. I believe it is subversive of the very 
spirit of his pledge, and the underlying princi- 
ples which he professed when he became a 
Christian. For there is nothing in the world 
more solemn than the vows of your sacramental 
obligation ; there is nothing so high as the ideal 
standard set for you by Jesus Christ, the head 
of the Church. 

You ask me to state for you tonight, if I can, 
what I believe to be the place of the Brother- 
hood in the Church. I believe the work of the 
Brotherhood in the Church of Jesus Christ is 
to emphasize the sacramental obligation which 
every man took on uniting with the Church to 
do his work in his own church where God has 
put him. I believe when every Presbyterian 
man and every other Brotherhood man in the 



120 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

Church of Christ throughout the world does 
his work in his own church, we will have come 
so far along the road to the coming of the king- 
dom that we will not be able to recognize the 
dusty battlefield on which we work today. Here, 
then, is our call. I believe in a worldwide evan- 
gelism. I believe in civic righteousness. I be- 
lieve in social service, in these great, tremen- 
dous movements that belong to our modern day, 
but I believe a great deal more — and as the 
underlying basis of it all, that every man must 
be found faithful first in his own church where 
God has seen fit to put him. The Brotherhood 
man's first duty is to give his church his best. 
The man who does not give his home his best is 
not a worthy man. He may not be able to spend 
much on his home ; he may not be able to have 
that home like many another; and it may not 
be filled with the vital interest of some other; 
but after all it is his home, it is the place where 
he owes his tenderest love, his inspiration, his 
care — he is the head of his home. I believe it 
is true about the Church. You owe it the best 
you can give it in every way. Fellow Presby- 
terians, it is a very easy thing to follow in the 
assent to great platforms; it is a very easy 
thing to be swayed by tremendous movements 
with splendid predictions; it is a very easy 
thing to believe in great reforms ; it is easy to 
.assent to schemes that you yourself do not 
have to carry out; it is a very easy thing to 
follow along with a great crowd having intense 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 121 

enthusiasm, led by magnificent leaders who do 
the work; but it is a very much harder thing 
to go back to your obscure church or your 
great church, and fit yourself so that when you 
are ready you can take a class of boys or girls 
and teach them the.word of God. It is a differ- 
ent thing for you to go back to your church and 
there bring your best thought and influence, 
that you yourself may be able to bring about a 
great advance movement along the lines of the 
church's efficiency. You remember the man 
whom Jesus healed said: "I will tell all men; 
I will go here and there and witness what you 
have done for me. ' ' And the Master said : " Go 
home and tell them what great things God hath 
done for thee." I believe this is the emphasis 
which the founders of this Brotherhood put on 
the Brotherhood work. One of the things that 
impressed me was how the first president of 
this Brotherhood, in the city of Indianapolis, 
went around to his friends' houses, and re- 
cruited men for his own church prayer meet- 
ing, and that has been the symbol of the creed 
of what the Church might expect through its 
Brotherhood men. Its aim must be not to 
spread out into side issues, but to lay hold on 
men with sufficient force and power to make 
them work on the line of their own duty in the 
Church. 

I believe, first of all, this responsibility in- 
volves the study of the individual interests of 
your own church. How few men there are who 



122 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

are willing to do that; who will study the re- 
ligious development, the religious opportunity, 
the financial problems, the enlargement of the 
congregation, the Sunday School, the Young 
People's problems! We will interest our- 
selves in things that will not touch us too 
closely. We need to have a resurrection. Our 
own church's development — what are its lines 
for advance, and how can we, without an 
individual work of our own, hope to be a power 
for our King? Sometimes it seems as though 
the brains of the Church were wrapped up in 
a napkin instead of being invested in the work 
of the kingdom. 

There must be a far-sighted policy all along 
the line, whether it be in big things or little 
things, and until the laymen come to the point 
where they are willing to do this, the Church 
will be under the criticism of those who oppose 
it. But when you and I to whom have been 
committed this sacred trust hold fast to our 
principles ; when we do our work as we ought 
to do it, and plan for the kingdom with the best 
that we have, then we will find the Church will 
rise up and be in every community where it 
stands the power of God unto salvation for 
every one who believes. 

The second thing, I think, in this obligation, 
involves a preparation on our part to do this 
work. Preparation of the unprepared. I live 
in a city where there are great industrial enter- 
prises, where every year there are hundreds of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 123 

young college men come to work. I find the 
men who rise are the men who especially pre- 
pare themselves for efficient service along the 
line of the industry's needs. A man who is 
willing to throw himself into the learning is 
the man who ultimately works out his own suc- 
cess and proves a power in the concern. A 
young Yale man went to work in one of the 
industrial concerns in Pittsburgh. There was 
a great deal of reconstruction going on. After 
that plant was finished I, happening to be inter- 
ested in him, asked the head of the plant 
whether he was worth his salary. "Why," he 
said, "do you know that man, I believe, could 
sit down and tell you the price of everything 
that went into that plant, the quality of it, how 
it was put together. He has fairly lived and 
slept and eaten and worked with it until he 
knows the construction of this concern as it 
stands today as well as I know it." Why did 
he do it? Because he wanted to make himself 
indispensable to the man for whom he worked* 
How many of you are making yourself indis- 
pensable to the Head of the Church? I do not 
mean to your pastor, minister, or officers, but 
how many are fitting yourselves by study to 
do your assumed work? Men are standing up 
in crowds and saying: "I am not fitted." In 
the name of God, be fitted by your own efforts, 
by your own work, and by the Holy Spirit in 
you. Moses said : "I am not fit ; " Isaiah said : 
"I am a man of unclean lips;" Paul said: "I 



124: THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

have persecuted the Church of God;" but God 
did not take these excuses. The rod was given 
to Moses, the live coal was laid on the lips of 
Isaiah, the sight of the risen Jesus was given to 
Paul ; and they were sent out to do the things 
God wanted them to do. Men, you must learn 
how to teach, learn how to pray, learn to win 
souls ; learn how to constructively build up the 
Church and be true to the responsibilitv of your 
call. 

Everything I have said thus far is dependent 
on your personal conviction about Christ. You 
can not make strong men in the Church who 
have not any conviction about the Church or 
about the King and Head of the Church. I 
deprecate with all my heart this sentiment 
which seems to be arising more and more that 
it matters little about aggressive, positive, virile 
conviction ; that all that is needed is social serv- 
ice. There is not anything that can be done in 
the world, least of all in the kingdom of God, 
without convictions that are born out of a stu- 
pendous yet sometimes trembling faith; con- 
victions about God, about His Son, about the 
power of His grace; convictions about the 
grandeur of His Kingdom, about the other 
sheep not of this fold whom Jesus desires to 
bring that they may hear His voice ; that there 
may be one shepherd and one fold. Look at 
those disciples as they sought for power, with 
inadequate equipment, poor position, intense 
opposition. Look at us, with all the parapher- 



ST. LOOTS CONVENTION 125 

nalia of Church extension, with the magnificent 
testimony of the ages of the Church's history 
to stand behind us, with the miracles of grace 
that are wrought throughout the world to tes- 
tify to the Church's power, with talent, influ- 
ence, and money, and social position. What 
are we doing in order that we may make 
Christ's kingdom count? Fellow Christian 
men, let us listen, if we can, to the testimony 
of Jesus Himself concerning the predestined 
and transcendent triumph of His Church, for 
to me it is a solemn fact that you and I may 
be derelict to our conviction in the Church of 
God, but it is not going to make any difference 
in the advancement of the kingdom. It may 
stay the progress of the kingdom's chariot for 
a day ; it may retard the millennium year a lit- 
tle, but God's kingdom is surely going to come, 
and His will is going to be done on earth as it is 
in heaven, and you and I may, if we will, be 
among those who with the King shall lay down 
before His Father's throne that unspotted and 
unsullied and triumphant Church, or we may 
let go our chance to march with Him to the ulti- 
mate victories of His Cross. 

To me the secret of the whole life of the 
Church lies in our response to God's call in 
our own churches. Have you ever stood in the 
field in the autumn, and seen the birds get- 
ting ready to migrate — how they fly around and 
around until at some mystic signal they cut 
through the air, and start to answer in the sun- 



126 THE PBESBYTEBIAN BBOTHEBHOOD 

shine and among warm breezes the call of 
their Creator ? Sometimes amid the fluctuating 
masses of men moving in the world there comes 
to men the call ; it comes to every man, but all 
do not heed it; and when it comes, like the 
birds, we who hear it must fly that we may 
do the bidding of Him who calls. 

If the triumph of the Church is to come, as 
it will come, when the King asks you whether 
you have been faithful, what will you give 
Him as the evidence of your fidelity? Will you 
give Him some great general assent that you 
have given to the propositions of the Gospel; 
will you tell Him of your endorsements to move- 
ments, your attendance at conventions ; or will 
you bring Him proofs of your own work in the 
place which represents in your life that for 
which He died? 



THE FARMERS' CLUB IN THE COUNTRY 
CHURCH 

BY WARREN H. WILSON, PH.D., NEW YORK 

Mr. Holt: I am sure none of us will feel 
that it is any descent into the parochial and 
narrow, when we turn to the subject of the 
claims of the country church. Our topics have 
balanced and supplemented each other, and I 
am sure there are many men who want to take 
home a word to their smaller parish and Broth- 
erhood. There is not a man in the United States 
who can give us a more effective message on 
that subject or any other subject he sees fit to 
take up, than Dr. Wilson, who will now address 
you. 

Dr. Wilson : We are in the midst of a period 
of rapid organization of country people. The 
aspect of social life in the country is swiftly 
changing under the pressure of exploitation of 
land, and of all the resources in the country com- 
munity. This exploitation may well be lamented, 
but it is fundamentally a normal process of re- 
adjustment. It means the redistribution of the 
values of land. The farmer is by this exploita- 
tion profoundly disturbed. He seeks in the 
meantime for every kind of organization that 

127 



128 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

will give liim either social, economic, political or 
religious stability. The need of such organiza- 
tion has not been satisfied, although the number 
of societies is so many as to be already a burden 
to the farming population. 

It is important, therefore, that, in the first 
place, the organization of farmers proceed on 
permanent lines; in the second place, that the 
organization proposed to a country community 
shall be in the interest of the farmer himself; 
and, in the third place, that the organization 
have national bearings which shall lift it out of 
mere localism. I realize that, in speaking to 
this National Brotherhood of our great his- 
toric church, these three essentials are, in the 
Brotherhood, satisfied. I want to urge, there- 
fore, the organization of the Presbyterian 
Brotherhood in country communities, on an eco- 
nomic basis, in the interest of the farmer and 
under the close supervision of the National 
Brotherhood. 

The best farmers in America, according to 
the authority of the professor of economics in 
Harvard University, are the Mormons, the 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and the Pennsyl- 
vania Germans. All three of these classes are 
religious in their associations. They are bound 
together by their faith. All of them farm the 
land in close association with one another and 
their social organization is religious. These 
three groups of exceptionally successful farm- 
ers have exceptionally successful and strong 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 129 

country churches. I am not an authority on 
economics, but on the country church I am 
prepared to lay alongside of Prof. Carver's 
endorsement of their farming the carefully 
ascertained fact that the Mormons, the Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterians and the Pennsylvania 
Dutch have the best country churches in 
America. 

Two of these classes come from Pennsylvania, 
a state with which all Presbyterians have close 
association, because in that state are many of 
our strongest and oldest churches. One of these 
classes of most successful farmers and success- 
ful churchmen is our own. The Scotch and the 
Scotch-Irish churches in the country have gone 
through the recent period of reorganization 
without essential change. In the southeastern 
corner of Pennsylvania, in Illinois in the central 
and northern portions, in Ohio, and elsewhere, 
are Scotch-Irish communities in the country 
whose organization, essentially religious and 
neighborly, based upon kinship, economic unity 
and common religious faith, has survived the 
acid test of exploitation of land. I want to 
call to the attention of ministers here present 
who think they have reached the dead line of 
forty-five, the pastorate of Eev. J. S. Braddock, 
D.D., Middle Creek Church, Winnebago, 111., 
in the Presbytery of Freeport. 

Dr. Braddock went to the Middle Creek 
church when he was forty-eight years of age. 
He retired recently, in his ninetieth year, after 



130 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

a pastorate of forty-two years, and he left the 
church in a perfect state of efficiency so far as 
my most critical inspection could discover. The 
secret of his pastorate was evidently that social 
organization of kindred who support one an- 
other in economic affairs and are bound to- 
gether by the most intimate social ties, and are 
organized by a religious inheritance of faith, 
which we call the Scotch-Irish, for these were 
his parishioners. 

I want, therefore, to commend to you the bid- 
ding of Sir Horace Plunkett, the Protestant 
statesman who has done so much for Ireland 
in the country-life movement, which is inde- 
pendent of politics. Sir Horace has given his 
life to the conservation of the soil, of com- 
munities, and of the people of Ireland. Turn- 
ing aside from the well-known political policies 
so much agitated, he has believed that unless 
the people in their voluntary associations are 
benefited, they cannot be helped by political 
agitation or by changes of law. Sir Horace, in 
his book about American conditions, insists that 
the economic betterment is first; that when we 
approach country people we must come to se- 
cure their prosperity and to build up the wel- 
fare of the household and of the community. 
He declares that no religious or social or educa- 
tional movement can have value in the country, 
whatever may be true in the town, unless it is 
fundamentally concerned with the economic 
affairs of the people. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 131 

I come to you also supported in the same 
demand that our country churches shall be 
economic and religious in their ministry, by the 
words of a merchant and philanthropist in our 
Board of Home Missions, who said at the time 
I entered this service under the board that "it 
would not be sufficient to promote evangelism in 
the country community; but the Presbyterian 
Church must undertake to promote the economic 
welfare of the farmer and to build up the coun- 
try community." This man who so spoke was 
Mr. Eobert C. Ogden, whose experience in busi- 
ness, as well as at the head of large agencies 
for education, commends his word to us. 

I believe, therefore, that in every country com- 
munity there should be the Brotherhood pro- 
moted by the churches, in the interest of the 
farmer as a farmer. It should contain members 
of all churches, if possible, and it might well 
receive others than working farmers. But its 
purpose should be pinned down to the promo- 
tion of the economic welfare of the community. 
Such a Brotherhood cannot exist without much 
social pleasure. It should have, I am sure, the 
service of prayer and song at every meeting, for 
I do not believe that any Brotherhood should as- 
semble or be dismissed without at least a brief 
liturgy of praise and worship. But the funda- 
mental business of the farmers' club in the 
country community is the education of the 
farmer and his son in the problems of modern 
agriculture. 



132 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

In a community in Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania, there has been such a club in existence 
for the past twenty years. Its membership is 
not very large, for it contains the more intelli- 
gent, progressive farmers, but its influence 
reaches to every boundary of the community, 
and it has taken up every new policy, being con- 
cerned at the present time with the study of 
the boy problem in that countryside. The 
essential business, however, of this club is the 
critical study of farming in that neighborhood. 
The club meets at the house of a farmer in 
regular course at ten o'clock in the morning. 
Until dinnertime the members inspect the build- 
ings and the machinery and the care of the 
crops on the farm where they are meeting. 
After the bountiful dinner, which every Penn- 
sylvania man can imagine, the first business of 
the club is the criticism by the members present 
of the farm economy, of the care of machinery, 
of tillage of the soil, the storing of the crops, 
and the condition of the animals on the farm 
of their host. 

The second business of this club is the study 
of that phase of scientific farming which is of 
immediate interest to them in their community. 
They inherited from their fathers a generation 
ago a soil which, never as good as that held by 
the Pennsylvania Germans, their neighbors, 
had been depleted by constant tillage. It has 
been their business to restore the soil and to 
transform the husbandry according to the needs 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 133 

of the market. By so doing they have main- 
tained a permanent population. By no other 
method than this transformation could the 
population have been maintained in that com- 
munity. Without better farming no inducement 
could have retained their sons on the farm. 
Some of the members of the farmers' club in 
this neighborhood are now grandfathers, and 
their grandsons are inheriting the land, better 
tilled and more fertile year by year because of 
the influence of the farmers' club. 

But the end I have in view, and the test of 
the success of this process, is right here. The 
country church in that neighborhood has been 
maintained. Its membership is large, its gifts 
for home and foreign missions are worthy of 
honor. That church is an exception among coun- 
try churches because it is based upon a perma- 
nent country population. There is no price 
upon the acres about that church. The farmers 
do not desire to sell. They are getting a good 
and satisfactory living in the country, and the 
highest element in that living is worship of God. 
The reason that the country church in many 
communities is undermined is simply the lack 
of permanency in the population. Without 
securing the economic success of the farmer this 
permanency cannot be secured. 

The need of an organization which shall ex- 
press the farmer's desire for betterment as a 
farmer is due to the wide variety and the ex- 
tended character of those agencies which can 



134 THE PKESBYTERIAN BKOTHEREOOD 

help the farmer. The individual countryman is 
using the daily mail and the daily paper and is 
more dependent upon them than is the towns- 
man for the purpose of securing help, sugges- 
tions and guidance from all sources in the pro- 
found problem of successful and permanent 
agriculture. The farmers ' club brings together 
in the country community intelligence from all 
sources and interprets that intelligence through 
discussion for the needs of the local community. 

It is enough to mention the National Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, in its varied forms of serv- 
ice to the farmer ; the State Deparment of Agri- 
culture, which interprets the peculiar problems 
of that particular commonwealth; the various 
State Universities and Colleges of Agriculture 
and the Normal Schools, which are studying 
rural poblems in the preparation of their teach- 
ers. These sources are widely separated. The 
farmers' club can be the clearing house of all 
the material available for that particular com- 
munity from these sources. 

The Presbyterian church at Vincennes, Ind., 
has undertaken as one of its side issues the 
maintaining of the farmers' institute, which 
had fallen into disuse in that community, and 
has created out of nothing a populous and influ- 
ential school of scientific farming. This illus- 
trates the value of a farmers' organization in 
connection with the church. The relations be- 
tween the rural economy and the country church 
are so delicate and so intimate that the one can 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 135 

more than double the value of the other. Just 
as in the Scotch-Irish community, the farming 
builds the church and the church betters the 
farming, so I am urging that in every Presby- 
terian community a farmers' club shall be the 
organizing center for building the community 
itself. I am just as anxious that it be religious 
as I am that it be concerned in the economy by 
which the farmer gets his living. 

Here is the secret also of federating the 
churches. We never learn the secret of any 
future course until we are driven to the wall. 
In the country community we are today driven 
to the wall by the overlapping of churches. 
Think of Center Hall, Pa., with twenty-nine 
country churches placed in a radius of four 
miles from a given point. What shall be done 
in this community to save Christianity? Pere 
Hyacinthe is quoted as saying: "In the six- 
teenth century Christianity divided in order to 
save the churches. In the twentieth century 
the churches must unite in order to save Chris- 
tianity." This remark is a true statement of 
the dire necessity under which country com- 
munities are. Christianity is helpless there, if 
it be longer a divided Christianity. These 
twenty-nine churches in a community will all 
together die. Out of this situation of necessity 
we are learning the expedients by which the 
churches can be saved. One of these expedients 
is the organization of the farmers under the 



136 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

leadership of the men of the churches in the 
interest of the country community. 

Nothing is more difficult than to find the way 
out of the present condition of overlapping in 
the country community. The denominations are 
organized for pugnacity, but not for peace. 
They are militant states to whom even the gos- 
pel of arbitration has not yet become practi- 
cable. I do not myself see how of their own 
forces they can come into federation. Only by 
some such methods as this great Brotherhood 
furnishes can our church by organizing the men 
of the community bring the churches together. 

There is another and a choicer aspect of all 
this work. It is the creation of leadership. My 
years as a pastor gave me hope that the Pres- 
byterian Church with its splendid equality be- 
tween the minister and the layman, in which 
the carpenter and the farmer stand shoulder 
to shoulder in the leadership with the ordained 
minister, is a college of leadership for common 
men. I remember in particular a young me- 
chanic whom I trained to be a leader of the boys 
in my church who devoted himself to their in- 
terest with such zeal that I have never been 
sure but that he gave his life for them. Cer- 
tainly his influence on their lives was that of a 
consecration. My assertion here is that his 
success was not born of his talents, but his devo- 
tion. That whatever the cost to him, he had 
five years of leadership among men; and they 
were the greatest years of his life. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 137 

I think also of other men, and in particular 
of one who is the active head of a Brotherhood 
now eight years old. He has grown with his 
own leadership and enlarged with his responsi- 
bilities. He has developed an eloquence such as 
few men have and a social gift which amounts 
to genius, all because in the spirit of Christ he 
became a leader of men. He devoted to the 
Presbyterian Brotherhood a fine convivial spirit 
and a passionate human warmth that once 
might have been the source of his temptations, 
but now became the fertile ground of the largest 
fruitfulness. I am sure that if he were asked 
today what is his greatest honor and pleasure 
he would say that the Presbyterian Brother- 
hood is the greatest experience of his life. 

The country community needs leadership. Of 
two things out of which grows the progressive 
spirit this is one. These two parents of prog- 
ress are leadership and dire necessity. If you 
want to see dire necessity, go to the country 
community, visit the average country church, 
and you will find the farmers disturbed and 
confused, feeling their way slowly out of pov- 
erty and not yet accustomed to the apparent 
prosperity which has come to them, and without 
leaders for the new day. "What I am urging 
upon you is that this great organization shall 
develop in the country community the leader- 
ship which makes for progress. Necessity is 
called the mother of invention. I hereby intro- 
duce you to the father of invention — leadership 



138 THE PBESBYTERIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

— and it is yours to send this leadership forth 
among the farmers. 

Gentlemen, the providence of God has put at 
the head of the country-life movement today 
Christian men. The agricultural leaders are 
all, I think, without exception, members of 
Christian churches and men of personal piety 
and devotion. There may be exceptions, but I 
do not know them. These men are the presi- 
dents of colleges, secretaries of departments, 
field agents, and superintendents of bureaus 
which exist for the service of the farmer. There 
is something about the country life movement 
which enlists the patient devotion of such Chris- 
tion men as Gifford Pinchot, L. H. Bailey, 
Henry Wallace, Kenyon L. Butterfield and 
Theodore Eoosevelt. These men are pleading 
with the churches for the leadership of the 
country community. They have done, and are 
doing, so much that they feel the need of a reli- 
gious motive before the rest can be done. It is 
for us to meet them more than half way. They 
have demonstrated to us, as our churches in 
Pennsylvania, the Scotch-Irish churches and the 
Pennsylvania Dutch have demonstrated, that 
the rural economy and rural religion are one. 
Agriculture is essentially a religious occupa- 
tion, and the Old Testament is its book. As 
was recently said by the president of the Coun- 
try Life Commission, Director L. H. Bailey of 
Cornell, "The soil is holy." If this be true, 
and I believe it is, then the greatest act of the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 139 

country community is worship. Then the true 
association of farmers is religious and the mor- 
ality of country people is expressed nowhere 
else than in the teachings of the Old Testament 
prophets and of Jesus Christ. 



REPORT OF THE 
NATIONAL COUNCIL 



EEPOET OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 

The Pittsburg Convention in February, 1909, 
directed that the next National Convention be 
held in November, 1910, but, for various reasons, 
this was found impracticable; hence, the pres- 
ent report covers a full period of two years. 

Death of Mr, Eosevear. 

The history of the Brotherhood during this 
period has been marked by great encourage- 
ments, but also by great and mysterious sorrows 
and hindrances. Its most outstanding incident 
is the sudden and lamented death, on Septem- 
ber 7, 1909, of Secretary Henry E. Eosevear, 
who, after a year of most fruitful service as 
Associate Secretary, had just been designated 
to the full Secretaryship upon the retirement 
of Dr. Landrith from the office of General Sec- 
retary to that of Editorial Secretary. The re- 
moval of this patient, wise and self-effacing man 
from the direction of a work whose possibilities 
he was just beginning fully to grasp, and whose 
efficiency he had already done so much to pro- 
mote, and to which he seemed in truth so indis- 
pensable, is one of the mysteries of Providence 

143 



144 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

before which we can only bow in trustful sub- 
mission and reverently feel that the Lord must 
have had very important work to be done else- 
where to call such a man away from His work 
here. Personally and officially, the Council de- 
plores his loss with a depth and sincerity of 
feeling that cannot be expressed in words. 

The Secretaryship. 

The filling of the vacancy thus created has 
been the chief concern of the Council during the 
many months that have followed. If it has 
been supposed by any one that the members of 
the Council have been slack or indifferent in 
the search, or unmindful of the vital importance 
of securing an executive officer at the earliest 
possible moment, nothing could be farther from 
the truth. Scores of names have been carefully 
canvassed, and proposals have been made to 
several men, each of whom would have been glad 
to accept, but, after very earnest deliberation 
(occupying, in the aggregate, nearly or quite a 
year), have felt that they could not honorably 
withdraw from other responsibilities to which 
they were committed. Other names are under 
consideration, and the search will be continued 
until under God we shall be led, as we trust, to 
the man of His choosing. 

In the meantime, the members of the Execu- 
tive Committee have given such attention to the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 145 

general interests of the Brotherhood as their 
other duties permitted, but have realized more 
painfully than any one outside could do, the 
very narrow limits of their possible service, 
and the absolute need of a strong man who 
should make the Brotherhood the first and only 
object of his thought and labor. 

Convention and Convention Secretary. 

The absence of a Secretary hampered the ar- 
rangements for the Convention, and when the 
cordial invitation of the Brotherhoods of St. 
Louis was received, it was found necessary, for 
national as well as for local reasons, to fix the 
date in February rather than in November. 
The Council was most fortunate in securing, as 
Convention Secretary, Mr. "Walter Getty, a Stu- 
dent Volunteer, just ordained to the ministry, 
and providentially detained by family circum- 
stances from the foreign field, where he expects 
to begin his labors during the present year. Mr. 
Getty has won the love and admiration of all 
who have come in contact with him in his work 
for the Brotherhood, and the Council would 
gladly have called him to permanent service in 
the Secretaryship, had he not felt constrained by 
the prior and paramount call to the uttermost 
parts of the earth. He will continue to serve 
as Acting Secretary pending a permanent 
selection. 



146 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Brotherhood Magazine. 

In the spring of 1909 the Council, regretfully 
recognizing the impossibility of Dr. Landrith's 
return to the active duties of the General Sec- 
retaryship, were fortunate in retaining his serv- 
ices as Editorial Secretary. Under his guidance, 
the Brotherhood magazine has proved a factor 
of increasing power in Brotherhood life. It 
seems likely that it will soon be found advisable 
to publish the magazine oftener than quarterly, 
perhaps six or even eight times a year. This, 
with other questions of permanent policy, will 
naturally receive the careful consideration of 
the new Secretary when appointed. 

Council Membership. 

The Council, in common with the Brotherhood 
and the Church at large, mourns the loss, since 
the Pittsburgh Convention, of that prince of 
Christian laymen, John H. Converse of Phila- 
delphia ; also of Mr. J. W. Axtell of Nashville, 
a man of no less fidelity and devotion to the 
service of the Church and the Brotherhood. 

Mr. John L. Severance, of Cleveland, has felt 
constrained by other duties to press his resigna- 
tion, which was presented a year or more ago. 

Upon the resignation of Mr. E. W. Johnson 
of Corsicana, Texas, Mr. William G. Bell of 
Austin, Texas, was elected to fill the vacancy. 
His term will expire with the coming Conven- 
tion. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 147 

In addition, the terms of office of the follow- 
ing members of the Council will expire at this 
time: Charles W. Dabney, Hugh H. Hanna, 
Ealph W. Harbison, Charles S. Holt, Cyrus H. 
McCormick, A. B. T. Moore. 

Peogkess; Objective; Method. 

In spite of all disappointments and draw- 
backs, there has been unmistakable progress 
during the two years, especially in a deeper and 
wider conviction of the value of the Brother- 
hood idea, and a truer and more general under- 
standing of what that idea is, and also of what 
it is not. In former reports, the Council has 
endeavored to express its conception of the 
true function of the Brotherhood, viz.: to pro- 
mote and stimulate men's loyalty to the Church 
and to every organized activity in and through 
the Church for the doing of all the things that 
the Church ought to do. This conception we 
see no reason to modify; and while it obtains, 
it forbids the national organization to shut itself 
up to any special enterprise or activity as its 
sole or primary "objective." By as much as 
local interests, opportunities and abilities vary, 
by so much will the objective of the national 
Brotherhood vary, as it tries to help forward 
one thing, or another, or another, according to 
time, place and circumstances. Some things, 
like prayer, Bible study and church attendance, 
are needed everywhere and always; other 



148 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

things, like Big Brother work or Civic and 
Social Beform, may be practicable at one time 
and place and not at another. Uniting all Pres- 
byterian men on the broad platform of loyalty 
to Christ through the Church, the national 
Brotherhood seeks to help the local Brotherhood 
find avenues of usefulness for themselves, and 
pursue them ; to caution against mistakes, cheer 
in discouragement, conserve the results of suc- 
cessful effort, and stimulate the discovery and 
pursuit of new lines of endeavor. 

It will often happen that in a city, a Pres- 
bytery or a larger territory, opportunities will 
arise for special service on a scale broader than 
that of the local Church, yet not of national 
proportions; for example, a city evangelistic 
campaign, or an anti-saloon movement in a 
County or State. In such cases, it is the pur- 
pose of the national Council to work, through 
synodical or presbyterial Brotherhoods, or 
through other available channels, so that the 
force of the national body shall be felt behind 
the more local enterprise. 

Men and Eeligion Forward Movement. 

And occasionally, some great nation-wide 
movement will arise in which the national 
Brotherhood ought to enlist, so far as possible 
the interest and enthusiasm of every Brother- 
hood and every Brotherhood man. Such was 
the Laymen's Missionary Movement of 1909- 
1910, though the Brotherhood, with its crippled 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 1_±9 

forces, was able only partially to meet the op- 
portunity. Such is the impending Men and Ke- 
ligion Forward Movement, which will occupy 
a very large place at the St. Louis Convention, 
— a colossal attempt by wise and thorough meth- 
ods to challenge and command the attention of 
the men and boys of America, in and out of the 
churches, to the claims of Christianity upon 
them for salvation and service. This movement, 
proposed originally by the International Com- 
mittee of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, has enlisted with the Association forces 
in a common promotion and control the Brother- 
hoods of the various denominations, together 
with the Gideons and the International Sunday 
School Association. Our own Brotherhood is 
most deeply committed to this enterprise ; our 
Treasurer is the Vice- Chairman of the General 
Committee of Ninety- Seven ; five members of 
the Council and the Editorial Secretary are 
members of that Committee, along with many 
other Presbyterian Brotherhood men. It will 
be the aim of the Council to relate the Brother- 
hood to this mighty effort so broadly and closely 
that every Presbyterian man will have a definite 
part and receive a personal stimulus and inspi- 
ration. 

It is interesting to notice that, while the For- 
ward Movement seeks to reach men outside the 
kingdom and bring them in, its primary func- 
tion is to do broadly and intensely, for a limited 
time, what the Presbyterian Brotherhood aims 



150 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

to do continuously in its narrower field, viz.: 
to make men more loyal to the Church in all 
her varied activities, and so to make her more 
helpful and attractive to the men of this and 
coming generations. 

Synodical and Pkesbyterial Organization. 

During his whole term of service, and espe- 
cially from the Pittsburgh Convention until his 
death, Mr. Eosevear gave much thought and 
attention to synodical and presbyterial organ- 
ization, the importance of which was emphasized 
in the report of the Council presented at Pitts- 
burgh. His careful scheme of suggested synod- 
ical and presbyterial constitutions, co-ordinat- 
ing them with the national organization and 
with the local units in the churches, has proved 
valuable and in its general lines has been fol- 
lowed or used as the basis of a large number of 
organizations completed or proposed. The older 
synodical brotherhoods of New Jersey, Illinois 
and Oklahoma have continued their activity with 
successful conventions and other forms of stim- 
ulation to effective work. Formal Brotherhood 
organizations have been effected in the synods 
of California, Oregon and Washington, as the 
direct result of the campaign of visitation here- 
inafter mentioned. Most of the Eastern and 
Central synods have given attention to Brother- 
hood work through strong committees. Highly 
successful synodical conferences have been held 
in New York, at Eochester, on the evening and 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 151 

day before the regular meeting of synod, and 
in Ohio, at Lima, on an independent date, cov- 
ering a day and two evenings. The synodical 
committee of Pennsylvania is planning for a 
similar conference at an early date. A consid- 
erable number of new presbyterial Brotherhoods 
have been organized along various lines. The 
functions and particulars of such organizations 
will be a subject of conference at the St. Louis 
Convention. It may not be invidious to men- 
tion the particular Brotherhood of the Pres- 
bytery of New York, which, after a year of 
effective service, has offered itself to the Council 
as the host of the next annual Convention. 

This distribution of responsibility, incomplete 
as it is, has nevertheless proved invaluable in 
the crisis arising from the long vacant Secre- 
taryship. Much of the impulse of Mr. Eose- 
vear's work has continued since his death, and 
his successor will find the work far less disinte- 
grated than if it had been held more closely in 
the hands of the central organization. 

Pacific Coast Campaign. 

One of the most interesting features of the 
two years was the Brotherhood campaign on 
the Pacific coast, organized by Mr. Eosevear's 
efforts through co-operating committees in San 
Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Spokane. In 
June, 1909, following the meeting of the general 
assembly at Denver, the moderator, Dr. Barkley, 
with the President, General Secretary and Asso- 



152 THE PKESBYTEEIAN BROTHEEHOOD 

ciate Secretary of the Brotherhood and repre- 
sentatives of the Boards of Home and Foreign 
Missions, attended carefully prepared and en- 
thusiastic conventions in each of the cities men- 
tioned, where steps were taken as indicated 
above for the organization of synodical Brother- 
hoods and a mighty impulse was given to Pres- 
byterian men's work throughout the whole 
region. 

Statistical. 

The records now show 875 societies directly 
affiliated with the national organizations, report- 
ing 45,000 members. These figures, however, 
are misleading because many local organiza- 
tions are affiliated only with and through their 
presbyterial Brotherhoods. This dual relation- 
ship was one of the somewhat puzzling details 
to which Mr. Eosevear was giving special 
thought and attention, and since his death it 
has been impossible to make progress upon it. 
It is probably safe to say that the number of 
Brotherhoods thus indirectly affiliated would 
swell the total by 30 per cent. 

Unaffiliated Societies. 

It is also true that there are many local organ- 
izations which are not affiliated, directly or indi- 
rectly, with the National Brotherhood. This is 
a source not only of regret to the Council, but 
of serious concern with reference to the welfare 
and usefulness of the Brotherhoods themselves. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 153 

While the Council has never thought it wise to 
adopt any prescribed form of local organiza- 
tion, or to insist upon uniformity of name or of 
declared purposes among the local organiza- 
tions, it will not do to overlook or underestimate 
the value of conscious corporate unity on the 
platform of Church loyalty and service. Em- 
phasizing, as we do, the necessity of local initia- 
tive and variety in work, we emphasize no less 
earnestly the importance to each local organiza- 
tion of close touch with others interested in the 
same object. It is well for men to fight the 
battles of the Kingdom, even separately or in 
small and scattered detachments ; but it is bet- 
ter if, like a mighty army, they move forward 
under a common leadership and control. 

Pastoks and the Bkotheehood. 

It is worthy of consideration whether all pas- 
tors have caught the full conception of the 
Brotherhood as an implement in their hands for 
setting their men at work at the particular thing 
that needs to be done in their particular cir- 
cumstances. Church loyalty, which is the foun- 
dation of the Brotherhood idea, implies loyalty 
to the pastor and a willingness to render the 
service which, in the nature of the case, he is 
often best able to plan. Many pastors have 
borne grateful testimony to the help and sup- 
port they have received from the Brotherhood 
organization, and to its enlistment, in united 
service, of men who as individuals held back 



154 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

from the things that needed to be done. It 
would be a blessing to the pastors and to the 
Brotherhood alike if all would learn to make 
use of this engine of service, and by such use 
develop the "Spirit within the wheels," with- 
out which all the machinery, of Church and 
Brotherhood alike, is vain. 

Finance. 

The interruption caused by the vacant Secre- 
taryship has again hindered the development 
of a permanent financial plan. The pledges at 
the Pittsburgh Convention, showing a consider- 
able shrinkage in collection, have been supple- 
mented by individual gifts so as to cover the 
reduced budget down to this Convention. "With 
the employment of a Secretary and the en- 
largement of activities which must take place, 
Brotherhood and individual subscriptions must 
be largely increased. It is hoped that a finan- 
cial policy may speedily be worked out which 
will provide a large part of the national budget 
through some form of per capita contribution 
on the part of the affiliated Brotherhoods. 

Inter-Brotherhood Belations. 

The cordial though informal relations with 
other Church Brotherhoods mentioned in the 
last report have been continued and strength- 
ened. Conferences were held at Pittsburgh just 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 155 



after the Convention of February, 1909, and at 
Chicago in connection with the Laymen's Mis- 
sionary Congress of May, 1910. The most con- 
crete expression of this Inter-Brotherhood fel- 
lowship is the joint observance of a world-wide 
week of prayer for men. At present, for special 
reasons, it has seemed necessary for the Young 
Men's Christian Association to continue its spe- 
cial week of prayer in November and for the 
Brotherhoods, cordially co-operating in this ob- 
servance, to unite in their own service at another 
date. This year the Brotherhood week of 
prayer will be observed during the week pre- 
ceding Easter, April 9-16 inclusive, and the gen- 
eral topic will be Sanctification for Service. A 
singularly rich and helpful series of suggested 
sub-topics and meditations thereon has been 
prepared for this week and published in a leaf- 
let, which it is hoped may find wide circulation 
among the men of our Brotherhood. 

The Men and Eeligion Forward Movement 
has already furnished and will increasingly fur- 
nish a new field for shoulder-to-shoulder co- 
operation on the part of the various Church 
Brotherhoods. 

By order of the Executive Committee. 

Charles S. Holt, President. 



OPEN CONFERENCES ON 

BROTHERHOOD 

ACTIVITIES 



"THINGS ACCOMPLISHED." 

LED BY REV. IRA LANDRITH, D.D., NASHVILLE, TENET. 

Dr. Landrith : — This is to be an open confer- 
ence. An open conference that shuts up is a 
bad thing. I am here merely to be an animated 
corkscrew to ascertain your contents, and I am 
not from Kentucky, either. I have no disposi- 
tion to make an opening address; I have an 
opening to a sixteenthly, but I will make them 
as we go along. We will commence with the 
things the Brotherhood has done locally, in 
groups, in unions, in presbyteries, in synods, in 
the general council. The report which has just 
been read of the Council covers the most of what 
I know of what the Brotherhood has done in 
a general way, and there is not anybody in the 
house but you who knows what the Brotherhood 
has done in local fields. If I could make it any 
more plain than I have, that this is your meet- 
ing, then I would like to know it. If you don't 
speak, it is your fault. If you speak too long, 
I have a hammer — three of them — and the Pres- 
ident has retired. I hope, however, that you 
will speak long enough to make your point and 
give us the information we need. 

The Presbyterian Brotherhood is designed 

159 



160 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

for the promotion of the well-being, spiritually, 
of the men of the community. Its unit is the 
local Brotherhood, and the local Brotherhood 
exists in order that the men who belong to it 
may become better men and more efficient Chris- 
tian workers, and that the men whom they may 
reach as agencies of the Lord, may be brought 
into proper relations to the Church of Christ. 
Of course, the local Brotherhood is an institu- 
tion of the local Presbyterian church, and it 
works for the welfare of that church, the while 
forgetting no good thing that can be done in 
union with other Brotherhoods, or for the gen- 
eral religious welfare of the community, either 
inside or outside of the Church; but, as was 
said so well last night, the Brotherhood's pri- 
mary work is church work, and because it is 
a Presbyterian Brotherhood, it is Presbyterian 
church work. 

The Presbyterial organization exists merely 
for the purpose of making the local work more 
efficient and for increasing the number of local 
units. It has no great activity outside of that, 
though there may be some work which the Pres- 
byterial Brotherhood can do which the local 
Brotherhoods can not do. 

The Synodical Brotherhood exists for increas- 
ing the activity and practice of the presbyterial 
Brotherhood and for the benefit of the local 
organizations also. 

There are represented on this floor some inter- 
denominational Brotherhoods, some Presbyte- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 161 

rial Brotherhoods, and some Synodical Brother- 
hoods, and it has been suggested, and wisely, 
that we might well afford to hear from one or 
two individuals at the opening, representing 
each one of these forms of organization. For 
the sake of getting this open parliament open, 
I am going to ask Mr. Jefferis, of Philadelphia, 
to tell us something about the Brotherhood work 
in his own Presbytery, or in the local organiza- 
tion of which he is a member. I have not seen 
Mr. Jefferis himself, and I am going to assume 
that he is going to do this ; if he does not, please 
remember that the middle one of these gavels 
is made of stone. 

J. H. Jeffekis: — I have but a few things to 
say, and one is I am thoroughly converted to 
the Brotherhood idea. The Brotherhood has 
taken entire possession of my heart. There are 
two things in Chester Presbytery, from which 
has been evolved the Chester plan of evan- 
gelism, which have come into my life, — personal 
evangelism and the Brotherhood, — and I have 
practically surrendered every other line of work 
outside of my particular Church work to those 
two things, which we call twins. They are 
brothers, — Brotherhood and Evangelism, — one 
works together with the other; and we have 
found such a development in our Chester Pres- 
bytery that has been astonishing to those of us 
who are working along these lines. The men of 
our Presbytery have been so stirred by these 



162 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

two things working together, that today we have 
men, between forty and fifty men of our Pres- 
bytery, who last spring went out into country 
districts and held evangelistic services in our 
chapels, some of which had not been open, prac- 
tically, for years. They conducted evangelistic 
services to such an extent that many were 
brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ 
through the personal efforts of our Brotherhood 
men, 

The Brotherhoods in our Presbytery have de- 
veloped a class of men who have moral and 
spiritual backbone, — men who are standing for 
something definite in the line of good in the 
Church and in the community. I find they are 
standing against the effort in all sections of our 
Presbytery to break down the Lord's Day. We 
find them standing for civic righteousness ; we 
find them standing for what I think best of all 
— clean life in themselves. I will never for- 
get a Brotherhood man who had lived a fast 
life before he came into the Brotherhood. He 
was an Irishman from the North of Ireland, and 
he got up in the Brotherhood meeting one Sab- 
bath morning and said, "I have a burden on my 
heart in regard to a clean life. I feel if I have 
to speak to my brother men I am to be clean 
myself, and you know how I have loved my to- 
bacco; but I have made up my mind since I 
have been a Brotherhood man that I cannot go 
to my brother and speak to him about the Lord 
Jesus Christ with a corncob pipe in my mouth 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 163 

or a chew of tobacco." It struck me that one 
of the best things the Brotherhood was doing 
in our midst was leading our men to live a 
clean Christian life, and when you get a Chris- 
tian man clean, you have a man of some power 
which God can use; for I believe God can use 
anything but a dirty one. We must remember 
that, if we want God to use us. Let us be clean 
for the Master's use. 

It has developed men so that they shall go 
out with great longing and desire to win men 
for Jesus Christ. It develops a man of prayer, 
and brings other men to a knowledge of the Mas- 
ter who has saved them. That is one of the 
great features of our Brotherhood work. It 
has gotten our men together, to stand together, 
to work together; but, as I have said, one of 
the great developments we have had in Chester 
Presbytery is that it has sent men out in the 
country districts to seek other men; it should 
put in us that burning desire to go out and reach 
the other man. 

Dr. Landrith: — This Open Conference is de- 
signedly without form and void. So far as I 
know, the speaker who has just spoken is the 
only man prepared, and he assures me his prep- 
aration began at the door when he came in. If 
a man has a thought in his heart and experience 
he would like to relate, this is his opportunity. 
While you are making up your mind I wonder 
if any other good thing could come out of 



164 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Pennsylvania. What would the Presbytery of 
Pittsburgh tell us? Will Dr. Jones talk? 

Dr. Jones, Pittsburgh : — Dr. Landrith said he 
was not from Kentucky; he did not say where 
he was from. Dr. Landrith said I am from 
Pittsburgh. That is true. I am not ashamed 
that I come from Pittsburgh. Mr. Chairman, 
one failure in the Brotherhood work in all the 
states is that we are not well enough organized 
in the Synod and in the Presbytery. Now, there 
are enough Brotherhood men here to represent 
the whole Church, and represent almost every 
state, and if we carry home the Brotherhood 
spirit we get in this Convention, we will do won- 
ders. I notice in many Presbyteries taking up 
the Brotherhood, while they appoint their com- 
mittees, they are not very active, and it often 
happens that the men who compose the commit- 
tees do not have the real Brotherhood spirit. I 
believe we can do as much for the Brotherhood 
spirit for the work of this organization as we 
could in any other way, if we go home and see 
to it that wide-awake Brotherhood men are on 
our committees in the Presbyteries and Synods. 

We have our Council of twenty-one men, and 
we keep in close touch with all the Brotherhoods 
in the Presbytery. We have a very correct list 
of all the Brotherhood men, not only the 
Brotherhoods, but the name and address of 
almost every Brotherhood man in the Presby- 
tery. We have just sent out a letter to the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 165 

Brotherhood men, telling them what has been 
accomplished by other Brotherhoods; telling 
them what lines of work have been suggested 
for Brotherhood men ; and I believe our organ- 
ization in Pittsburgh owes its success to the fact 
that our Central Committee has kept in touch 
with all the Brotherhoods and members of the 
Brotherhood, from the organization to the pres- 
ent time. Above all things, the Brotherhood man 
should be very active and busy in the Synod 
and Presbytery, keeping in touch with other 
men and their organization ; giving them all the 
direction it is possible to do. I think, perhaps, 
the reason they have died out in some sections 
is because the leaders in the movement have not 
kept in active touch. 

Dr. Landrith : — I have purposely called these 
Presbyterial reports because I think if there 
is any need above another, it is effective Pres- 
byterial organization. President Taylor is here 
from Illinois. 

President A. B. Taylor, Decatur, 111. : — Illi- 
nois takes pride in the fact that its synodical 
organization was the first formal organization 
in the Union. We have been working on lines 
familiar to all. One thing we have learned is, 
we should not expect too much in the way of 
immediate results for the Brotherhood in the 
Synodical organizations, in the Presbyterial or- 
ganization, or in the local organization; and 



166 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

that it is necessary for us to educate not simply 
the laymen, but the pastors as well. In a careful 
study of the field, some of us are well satis- 
fied that we are dependent to a great extent 
on the direction of the pastors ; that the pastors 
are not aware of the fact; that it is difficult 
for us to get away from the fact that they are 
the leaders of the Church, and the instruction 
must come from them. The general movement 
is in about the same condition as in other states, 
where Synodical and Presbyterial organizations 
have been made. We believe that we have 
brought forward a large number of men in the 
Church who were formerly not taking an active 
part in it. Night before last, at a gathering 
of the Brotherhood in our own Church, we dis- 
covered the fact that there were some twelve 
or fourteen men who organized themselves 
under the direction of the officers of the Brother- 
hood into a flying squadron. This squadron 
placed itself not only under the direction of the 
pastor, but the President of the Brotherhood, 
and they have been doing a surprising amount 
of work in strengthening the various organiza- 
tions of the Church. I think myself that the ex- 
pression used last night and used here this 
morning shows what we are doing in Illinois — 
we are "getting together''; we are discovering 
that there are vast amounts of valuable, usable 
material in the various churches of our state 
lying dormant. If we can get in touch with it 
and develop the spirit of unity, the best and most 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 137 

valuable material and most helpful material in 
the Church will be used for the advancement of 
our Master's kingdom. 

We are of the opinion that it must be a mat- 
ter of education and instruction. Our Synodical 
Council as well as our Synodical Committee are 
working together, and after some three years' 
experience we are working together more ear- 
nestly and more eagerly than ever before ; and 
we have a sufficient sum of money in our treas- 
ury to send out circulars to stir up the brethren. 

Dr. Landrith : — Can any one get up in four or 
five minutes and tell about a city Brotherhood? 

Charles T. Thompson, Minneapolis : — I have 
seen a concrete example of what a local Brother- 
hood can do, which was so striking I want to 
present it to you. In Portland, Oregon, I saw 
walking up and down there a young man with 
a Brotherhood button on. I introduced myself 
and asked him what he was doing. He said, "I 
wear no other button, because I believe in that 
organization. I belong to a number of others. ' ? 
I said, "What are you doing?" "I will tell you 
what I am doing. I come from one of the larg- 
est and most growing towns in one of our West- 
ern states, and I am a member of the largest 
church there. About a year and a half ago our 
pastor left, under trying circumstances; our 
church was practically split from top to bot- 
tom. I got the men of our congregation to- 



168 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

gether. We had the form of a Brotherhood ; we 
determined that, God helping us, that church 
would not go down ; we would stand back of the 
organization, back of the elders and deacons. 
We went to work, carried on all the services of 
the church and put a Brotherhood man in the 
pulpit because we could get no supply. At the 
end of the year we had received a hundred into 
the church, mostly on confession. We had 
given to all the benevolences of the church fifty 
per cent more to the carrying on of the work of 
the church; we have a splendidly equipped 
church, and the work is going on, and it is the 
most prayerful religious organization in the 
city. That is what our local organization has 
done, and that is worth while. I think it is worth 
while wearing that button." 

Dr. Landrith : — This conference is about 
open, ready for you to walk in. Before you do, 
however, it is desirable for us to have another 
word from the movement known as the Brother- 
hood City Union, another form of Presbyterial 
organization. It is desirable in a city where 
there is a number of Brotherhoods to have 
Brotherhood unions. Is there anybody here 
who has had experience of that kind? 

James D, Husted, Denver, Colo. : — I want t<? 
speak in reference to the work done by our city 
union, as we call it in Denver. We have some 
good local organizations of Brotherhoods, who 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 1G9 

have been responsible for the conduct of large 
men's Bible Classes; but in the city organiza- 
tions which have been under way there seemed 
but little definite work for us to do, until it 
occurred to us that the Synodical College, or 
Westminster College, needed great support in 
time of extreme difficulty. The men interested 
in the city union of Denver made up their minds 
that was their work ; so, instead of meeting, as 
they had previously done, without anything 
more definite for an object except to listen 
to excellent addresses, they decided upon a defi- 
nite campaign involving the city of Denver; 
and did it so effectively and took up the work 
the Synod desired to have done, and organized 
the men so completely, all the men in each 
church and general committees as well, that 
the college, which had been languishing and in 
great difficulty, but looked upon by the Synod 
of great necessity for the work of the state, was 
put squarely on its feet and a great deal accom- 
plished in the rousing of the business men of 
the community as well as the Presbyterian men. 
In the conviction of the Board of Trustees of 
that college at this time, the college enterprise 
was really saved by the definite concentration 
of effort on the part of the local union in Den- 
ver, and great good accomplished for the good 
of the Church and glory of God, which could 
not have been done by any other organization. 
This was done by the city union. 



170 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

A Delegate: — Was it a financial campaign 
for the college? 

Mr. Husted: — Both the getting of students 
and a financial campaign, and the conduct of a 
business organization in the disposition of cer- 
tain assets ; also in the construction of an inter- 
urban branch railroad to the college building, 
which was accomplished largely through the 
definite concentration of the committee ap- 
pointed to do that thing. 

Dr. Landrith : — That is the first Brother- 
hood that has ever successfully undertaken the 
building of a railroad. If our friend, Mr. Taft, 
Canal, he will know where to apply. 

E. B. Wilson, Indianapolis : — Mr. Chairman, 
the Indianapolis Presbyterian Church Brother- 
hood was organized at the time of the National 
Brotherhood. We have been doing some things, 
as an organization, but the acts of omission are 
on our minds in Indianapolis more than the 
acts of commission. We have assisted in estab- 
lishing a Newcomers' Bureau through the state 
of Indiana, so we may look after them and see 
they get into churches, and we have done other 
things to help the foreigners. We have as a 
city organization the members of the local 
churches, who sign application cards and pay 
should have any difficulty with the Panama 
fifty cents; but we are now going to organize 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 171 

local churches and help the local churches to do 
all of the work the local church demands ; not 
to follow some plan which the National Council 
may give us, but make each man know he must 
do something for his own local church. The city 
Brotherhood will be a clearing house. I believe 
if we devote our efforts in this way, we will 
have no more articles asking what is being done 
and what can it do? It stands for everything 
you as individuals stand for, and nothing less. 
If we get busy in our churches as city Brother- 
hoods, they will not only do what we have done, 
but vastly more; they will become clearing 
houses so that each church may increase its own 
work. 

E. C. Phillips, Middletown, Ohio: — I am 
from Middletown, Ohio, a small manufacturing 
town in the southwestern part of the state. The 
Presbyterian Brotherhood has done more in 
our town than any other organization, regard- 
less of its congregational affiliation. We started 
out after the Indianapolis Convention with 
forty-eight. We now have 200, adult and junior 
Brotherhood. We have our own headquarters, 
club house, gymnasium, swimming pool, taking 
the place in our city of the Y. M. C. A. We 
have no Y. M. C. A., and that is our principal 
object at present. The life of our institution 
has been the Bible Class. Membership in our 
association is limited to Presbyterians, or men 
who have no church affiliations. Just at present 



172 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

we have a guarantee fund of $75 a month, and 
we are looking for a young man, Presbyterian, 
as manager of our institution. We have a phys- 
ical director, but we need a young man, prefer- 
ably a Presbyterian, as a manager. There is a 
devout spiritual feeling throughout the entire 
membership. We are looking forward to a pros- 
perous year. 

Andrew Stevenson, Chicago : — I think one of 
the most remarkable prayer groups is in the 
church where Mr. Jefferis is a member, and 
the next is the club of the Fourth Church in 
Chicago. I think, gentlemen, that the men's 
club of the Fourth Church has done a great 
work in Chicago. They decided to build a $500,- 
000 plant, and $384,000 was subscribed— $265,- 
000 by members, by nineteen members. I think 
a large part has come through the work of that 
club, and when Dr. Stone comes I wish we might 
hear of that. 

Mr. Humphrey, Chicago: — Our Brotherhood 
has not been very active this past year, but one 
thing they have done, which is very promising. 
They have about forty boys and have elaborated 
a system of credit marks in which there is a 
chance to give them a credit for everything they 
do. The Sunday School teacher gives them a 
credit for attending Sunday School, for the 
Bible reading; when they come to church they 
get a credit and when they bring their fathers 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 173 

or mothers it is another. It has resulted in our 
church swarming with boys; we have to get 
there early to get our pews. There is a prize 
which is given to the ones getting a large num- 
ber of credits. I don't know just the prize. 

Mr. Lincoln, Joliet, 111. : — I think Professor 
Lewis gave a fine lecture on the boys of the 
country. Professor Lewis is the son of old Dr. 
Lewis, who was a minister at Joliet. If any of 
you in any way will get that lecture that he 
has on the Boy Question, it will be worth all 
your while. It is one of the finest things that 
has ever been given in the Church or outside of 
the Church. 

Dr. Landrith: — That lecture has been pub- 
lished by the Chicago Brotherhood. You can 
get a copy of it from them. 

F. M. Eobinson, Kansas City, Mo. : — I believe 
no Brotherhood can show any good reason for 
its existence unless you give them something to 
do, and that which you give them to do must be 
intensely spiritual in its real object. Dinners 
and entertainments are all right if they lead up 
to something better, but without something bet- 
ter they are sounding brass and tinkling cym- 
bals. Linwood Church discovered a suburban 
field in Kansas City. Our Brotherhood took 
it up and built a chapel ; a Brotherhood man is 
superintendent of the Sabbath School, another 



174 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

leads the evening service, and another leads the 
Thursday evening service. In three or four 
months a church will be organized, and then we 
will discover another suburban field and build 
up another church. We have the best pastor 
in the United States — Mr. Eogers. He is the 
man behind the gun, but the Brotherhood men 
do the work. He pulls the string and we do the 
work. We have a great men's class at ten 
o'clock in the morning. You cannot have a 
Brotherhood without the weekly meeting of the 
class. We have about a hundred business and 
professional men. They insist upon meeting at 
9 :30 for prayer, and you know what that means 
to the pastor. He preaches the best sermons 
because he knows what is going on before 
church. The men stay to church. We hold 
these men, the captains, responsible. This re- 
quires work all the time, seven days in the week 
and every week in the year. 

Eegarding the Brotherhood magazine, recent- 
ly we adopted a resolution that hereafter, com- 
mencing with each month, every annual dues 
of $1.00 will include a subscription to the maga- 
zine. We will get 125 subscriptions. We have 
organized the Kansas City Presbytery, and 
we are going to organize the Synod of Mis- 
souri. We are of the conviction that the con- 
vention of 1913 will be held in Kansas City. 

Charles S. Holt : — One of the best single, 
practical suggestions made, is that for the ex- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 175 

tension of the influence of the magazine. Every 
Local Committee should appoint a committee to 
see that the magazine gets into the hands of 
the Brotherhood. I offer a resolution to that 
effect to be referred to the Business Committee. 

Max C. Both, Toledo, Ohio :— Out of the fruit- 
fulness of our life and spirit, I want to give 
you one work we are doing of which I am spe- 
cially proud. We have 200 members ; part of 
these men have banded together and pledged 
themselves, from the fruitfulness of our spir- 
itual life, over $300 a year to the support of 
a mission in China. We have paid for two years 
and we intend to continue it. 

A. B. T. Moore, Cedar Eapids, Iowa: — I 
understand this is an hour in which we tell 
what has been accomplished. I think in every 
Brotherhood one thing especially has been ac- 
complished; our President has referred to the 
doctrine of fried chicken; I believe our 
Moderator has referred to it as the apostasy 
that is taking hold of many of the Brotherhoods, 
making them social instead of religious. I want 
to emphasize two things that must be the basis 
of any successful Brotherhood work — the 
Prayer Union and the Bible Class. These two 
things must be the foundations; they must be 
the platform on which the successful Brother- 
hood is built — the united prayer of the men of 
the individual church for its own welfare, its 



176 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

pastor, its meetings, its progress — the study of 
God's word, the blessed book, the message and 
only message we have from the Father to know 
His will concerning us and to know ourselves. 

William 0. La Monte, Chicago, 111.: — The 
Men's Sunday Evening Club of the Second 
Church, of which I am a delegate, has recently 
taken on a new work in cooperation with the 
women's societies of the Church. We conduct 
a social, helpful service called the Pleasant Sun- 
day Afternoon in our parish house, where we 
get a distinguished speaker upon a civic or so- 
ciological subject. The best men and women of 
the city are willing and anxious to come; we 
have a little music and then a light luncheon 
for the men and women of the neighborhood 
who live in boarding houses and have no proper 
place to spend the Sunday afternoon. These 
meetings are helpful, and we are enabled in 
that way to build up our Christian Endeavor 
Society, which has been in the last year the 
real striking element of our church life, be- 
cause we adjourn directly to the Christian 
Endeavor meeting. We are planted in a neigh- 
borhood where we must minister to men, and 
we dare not shirk that responsibility, and we 
are enabled to do it. We had a meeting last 
Sunday, where Colonel Smith spoke of the Civil 
War. We invited a company of the Boy Scouts. 
We impress upon the young men, students, 
many of them, that the men who are doing 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 177 

things in the affairs of our city are Christian 
men, these men who speak to them. I would 
like to ask the question, how can we get the indi- 
vidual man in our Brotherhoods to work with 
other men? Let me say to Dr. Taylor: Bear 
the information to your flying squadron that 
Sunday before last Chicago opened a college of 
aviation, and we must keep up with that. 

Herbert T. Folsom, Lincoln, Neb. : — We have 
taken up the work and have a live minister and 
a live church. We have a man who is doing a 
great work, Last Sunday five students joined 
churches in Lincoln, largely through the work 
of our student pastor. Our Brotherhood is 
responsible largely for the Y. M. C. A. In addi- 
tion to that, we are largely responsible for the 
fact we have no saloons in Lincoln. 

Dr. James E. Clarke, Nashville, Tenn. : — In 
a little town of Kentucky, the men of the 
churches have organized an interdenominational 
Brotherhood and have closed up the places 
where the boys are led astray. 

H. D. Ward, Indianapolis : — Our church is the 
Memorial Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. 
We have no organized Brotherhood there, but 
every man in the church and in the Sunday 
School is a live wire, so to speak. We have a 
men's class which averaged last year 127 mem- 



178 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

bers per Sunday, and in the last five weeks this 
one class, for one thing in particular, subscribed 
for 432 Bibles to be placed in the largest hotel 
in Indianapolis, which has 320 rooms. Three 
hundred and twenty would have been enough 
Bibles, but 432 will give us enough to supply 
another hotel in the city. We have no Brother- 
hood, but we will soon organize one. 

Eev. Glenn L. Sneed, Dallas, Texas: — I am 
the representative of a small church, and I want 
to say in their behalf, when I went to the church 
where I am now pastor we had no Brotherhood, 
and the men did not seem well acquainted, so 
I asked them to come to my house, and intro- 
duced them as they came in, and each man said, 
"I think I have seen you on the car." They 
did not remember seeing each other at church, 
although they had been there. We had a talk, 
and we decided to organize a Brotherhood. As 
a result of that, every Sunday morning the 
Brotherhood comes in and holds a five or ten 
minute prayer meeting with the pastor before 
the preaching hour. Another definite result — 
we are calling each other over the telephone to 
talk over the work of the church. It is a decided 
sign of progress. 

A. G. Butler, Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pa.: 
— Just three things. I can say them in a few 
words. We have an organization consisting of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 179 

fifty members; they have charge of one prayer 
meeting a month. A while ago our Sunday 
School needed a piano. In a short time out of 
that organization we raised $450, and put the 
piano in the Sunday Schood. We needed a new 
carpet, which cost $300. This in an organization 
of two or three years. They are not intensely 
spiritual, but intensely financial. 

William A. Peterson, Chicago, 111. : — If you 
don't consider this Brotherhood movement is 
an excuse for you doing something, leave it 
alone, and the farther away you keep, the better. 
The criticism they hand out about the Brother- 
hood is that we have visions and don't do any- 
thing; if you don't, go back and act the part. 
We laymen are going around and talking about 
the wonderful things we have done, and forget 
the dear ministers, who have been eating out 
their hearts; and, mind you, we ought to be 
ashamed of ourselves, that we didn't do it be- 
fore, and it is not the ministers ' fault at all. 

E. C. Oakley, Minneapolis, Minn.: — Our 
Brotherhood is intensely evangelistic. Also on 
two week night evenings, these men are the 
instruments in God's hand to save souls. In 
another mission, the Children's Mission, this 
same work is going on and the same results ob- 
tained. There are calls from our weaker 
churches, and the smaller outlying churches; 
our men go out two by two, and conduct serv- 



180 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

ices where the pastor is sick^ or have no pas- 
tors, regardless of denomination. We have 
prayer meeting before the service. We have 
Bible classes conducted by the laymen. 

W. M. Cleaveland, Joplin, Mo. : — The men of 
our church have an organization five months 
old, a hundred members. I call up every man 
on Saturday afternoon. If they are not out to 
church the next day the men take it for granted 
they are sick, and they either go or send flowers. 

Frank J. Durham, Chicago : — We have a 
Junior Brotherhood in Chicago. Last Commu- 
nion fifteen boys of high school age joined the 
church. 

D. W. McDonald, Decatur, 111.: — Two men 
brought together the men in their community 
in a home and got them acquainted with each 
other. Four or five men in that community are 
attending church because they were brought to- 
gether. Men will come to church if they know 
men who are in church. Many times we can 
get them in the home when we cannot get them 
in the church. 

Warren Husted, Greenville, Ohio : — We have 
a Junior Brotherhood. A Senior Brotherhood 
took it up a month ago, and last Sabbath morn- 
ing we had two seats of Juniors and a Junior 
representative here today. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 181 

Dr. Landrith: — This open conference is just 
beginning and just getting started; but we 
turn it over to the tender mercies of the man 
who takes it up tomorrow. 



BROTHERHOOD IDEALS. 

LED BY REV. W. A. JONES, D.D., PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Dr. Jones : — What the Brotherhood should 
do and how to do it ! We had a very lively con- 
ference yesterday on the "things accom- 
plished. " I believe that you are all thoroughly 
interested and inspired by what has gone on 
before, and I am sure you will occupy the time 
now without any trouble. If this convention 
does nothing more than inspire us, it will not do 
very much good. I believe there is a burden on 
the heart of every man here who has been at- 
tending the sessions of this convention, as to 
what you are going to do in your local Brother- 
hood when you return. You may carry a little 
of the inspiration and fire of this convention 
with you, but we must do more than that : we 
must resolve to do something in the work more 
than we have ever done before. I think it is a 
dreadful thing for a Brotherhood or a minister 
or a member of a Brotherhood to ask, "What 
can we do?" There is so much to do and so 
much has been accomplished, and there is so 
much to do in the Church and the Kingdom ; it 
is just waiting for us, and the Brotherhood with 
its strong shoulders should get under it. I am 

182 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 133 

pastor of a church where there is a Brother- 
hood membership of 250 active members ; it is 
not a new organization to burden the pastor and 
for him to look after. If it is guided rightly and 
wisely as it is possible for us to guide it, it is 
the strong right arm of the pastor and the 
church; and instead of its being a heavy load 
on him, it lifts him up and helps him in the work 
of the Kingdom in the local church. We have 
looked upon the Brotherhood and the Brother- 
hood Convention as largely a laymen's move- 
ment and a laymen's convention. I would like 
to know how many ministers are in this audi- 
ence. Please rise. Thank you. I call attention 
to this. Also on the program there are seven- 
teen ministers and seven laymen. This is no 
criticism or anything of that kind ; the point is 
this: the Brotherhood cannot get along with- 
out the minister, and the preacher cannot get 
along in this day without the Brotherhood. 
And it is a great pity there are some minis- 
ters in some sections of our Church who do not 
look with favor on the Brotherhood; but it is 
gaining every day, and the pastor who will give 
himself to the Brotherhood will find it an organ- 
ization on which he can lean and find it profit- 
able in his work. 

In looking at the large proportion of minis- 
ters, it reminds me of a little story of a mother 
hen who had three little chickens, two little 
daughters and one little son. The old lady was 
very tired, and wanted to go away for a while. 



184 THE PKESBYTERIAN BBOTHERHOOD 

She said to the two little daughters : ' ' Take care 
of your little brother, because he is the only 
little brother you have. When you go up to the 
door of the house for food, you listen, and if 
you hear them saying the preacher is coming 
this week, take your little brother by the wings 
and start for the woods.' ' 

The old lady went away and stayed about two 
weeks, and when she came back the two little 
daughters met her at the train, and she said: 
" Where is your little brother?" 

They said that one day when they went up 
to the house they heard them talking about the 
preacher, and they took to the woods, but little 
brother fell behind and was overtaken, and you 
know what became of him. " Didn't I tell you 
to take your little brother with you ? " " Oh, yesj 
but he could not run as fast as we could, and 
they overtook us, and he was taken." "That is 
very sad, ' * said mother. 

"Yes," said one of the little sisters, as the 
tears ran down her feathered cheeks ; i c our little 
brother has entered the ministry." 

The mother said: "That is all right, for I 
never thought he would make a very good lay- 
man* ' f 

This is a men's movement, and there is no 
distinction here, and the question before us is, 
What is the work the Brotherhood should do, 
and how to do it? I like that word "do." If 
we go home with the inspiration and nothing 
more, it will not do us much good. What are 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 185 

our plans for the winter? Without taking fur- 
ther time, let us enter into discussion of 
this question, What the working Brotherhood 
should do? 

Me. Gillian, of Wisconsin: — Let me say to 
the brotherhoods in the small churches and with 
small memberships, that I am speaking now 
for their sake, and representing that kind of 
church. Our Brotherhood, organized four or 
five years ago, is in existence and alive. They 
have sent me twice to the convention and they 
are poor men, too. We have kept our Brother- 
hood alive and it is growing. The other Brother- 
hoods have died at the dining table. I almost 
shrink from telling you what we are trying to 
do. First of all, we stand back of the movement 
which will end in the establishment of a tuber- 
culosis hospital; all denominations are with 
us, and trained women who are supported by 
the contributions of the men who find out the 
needy cases and distressed cases and take care 
of them. We have mapped out a program ; we 
have eleven ministers and sixty laymen in this 
Federation. The plans are at work by which 
we hope to build a hospital, and hope to bring 
into our fellowship every Christian man and 
every good man. We hope to have in connec- 
tion a big farm in the woods by a lake. At one 
end a place for boys and another for girls, 
whose fathers and mothers are too poor to take 
care of them. In connection with that farm we 



186 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

hope to have a convalescent home and a Nurses' 
home, and make the farm provide the vegeta- 
bles, milk, etc. 

We have a plan so big that it staggers us, but 
we hope to do it. More particularly we have 
been able to secure the co-operation of Eoman 
Catholic priests, by the permission of Father 
Shannon, to take their turn at the city mission. 
We have our ministers catalogued, and two 
nights a week the priests take it. Last year 
forty thousand men went through that mission. 
We are trying to bring all the Protestant 
Brotherhoods into our fellowship. Our most 
difficult thing is to get all the ministers into 
harmony with us, and to sympathize with us. 
Fellowship is our inspiration. 

Rev. W. F. Weir, Ashtabula, Ohio :— We have 
had the Brotherhood supper for a good while, 
but we were careful to guide the social function 
to spiritual ends. We have now a Brotherhood 
Bible Class. Our members are more than the 
Brotherhood members. We have also what 
is a new thing, in so far as we know, a Brother- 
hood Council. The Brotherhood monthly social 
meetings attended by one hundred men ; a Bible 
Class, with an enrollment of more than that; 
and a Brotherhood Council which meets Sunday 
evening before the service. This Council con- 
siders the larger business problems. I called 
this body of men one Sunday night, and they 
have met every Sunday night since to deal with 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION jg? 

Church problems, and they have helped me 
with one or two important things. Then we 
have boys' nights, where every man brings a 
boy. They have taken charge of two Sunday 
nights. Sunday evening is an open hour and 
you can have your men come together for spirit- 
ual conference. The monthly Brotherhood 
meeting is a meeting with the Brotherhood 
Bible Class and Brotherhood Council. 
*^v\^ % ^f\^\ fa\fP^ **** ^ ^ "**> -^^f w^ 

Mr. McCluskey, New Decatur, Ala.: — The 
Brotherhood is practically new in the State of 
Alabama and the southern states. I noticed the 
representation is largely from the northwestern 
states. It is my prayer this morning, that this 
convention, that the spirit of this movement be 
spread over the southern states, and we may 
get the benefit ; and we may learn more to carry 
on God's business than we have heretofore. 

Chairman Jones :— When I awoke this morn- 
ing, I thought I was in Pittsburgh from the 
atmosphere here today. Dr. Alexander has two 
representatives on the floor and I think we 
would like to hear from them. I will call on 
Mr. Parker, of Pittsburgh. 

C. Ellsworth Parker, Pittsburgh : — One 
thing that we have planned to do this winter 
and we are doing, is carrying on a club Sunday 
afternoon for unchurched men. When we 
started this club we were just a little bit afraid 
of making it too religious. We started with 



188 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

twenty-eight; ran up to sixty and a hundred. 
We found we are not in the Master's business 
to talk social betterment, but we are here to 
talk Christ and Him crucified. We have been 
preaching straight Gospel sermons, and our 
attendance has increased, and men are coming 
and giving their hearts to Jesus Christ. We 
give these men a little luncheon and they are not 
all panhandlers. We have got to beg these men 
to stay and have a cup of coffee. They come 
for the Gospel. You will pardon me if I use 
these plain words, but I am tired and sick of 
some of the things they tell us; that we have 
got to take in the priest and the Hebrew to help 
us out to make our things go. Let us give them 
Jesus Christ and give it straight in the old- 
fashioned Presbyterian doctrine. There is Dr. 
Alexander; he will help us to do anything we 
ask him to do, but he is going to let somebody 
else do their part. We are in a peculiar field. 
We cannot make any grandstand display. We 
are a downtown church; some come five or ten 
miles. We found people coming twenty-eight 
miles and we asked them, "Are there no 
churches near you? Why do you come here?" 
And they said, "Because Dr. Alexander is a 
man's preacher.' f In his own pulpit, he preaches 
the straight Gospel to men, and that is what we 
are trying to do in our Brotherhood. They have 
taken charge of the prayer meetings. Those 
that come in street cars and automobiles and 
walk, — they all get the same; it is urged upon 



ST, LOUIS CONVENTION ig9 

them the value and importance of prayer in the 
daily life. There has been one hundred pei* cent 
increase. The thing for this association to do is 
to get in line, through the study of God's word; 
and he will send us out into the Brotherhoods 
to do what there is to be done. 

Rev. Charles Schall, Greensburg, Pa.: — I 
think that the presiding officer of this confer- 
ence ought to tell us about the addition to his 
church. At that communion service, ninety-two 
men were added to the membership of the 
church of which Mr. Jones is pastor. 

Nolan E. Best, New York : — Mr. Walter Guy, 
of Chicago, is developing a thing as Chairman 
of the Junior Brotherhood which ought to have 
attention from all of our Brotherhoods, — a plan 
which ties up the boys, which gives them credits 
and demerits for anything, worthy or unworthy, 
of the Christian life. A very direct attack, how- 
ever, on a difficult problem ; and for Mr. Guy and 
for his committee I want to say that they are not 
only willing but eager to distribute their litera- 
ture to anyone who applies for it, at 509 South 
Wabash Ave., Chicago, and anxious that their 
plan should be put to a test elsewhere ; as they 
are beginning to put it to the test and eager 
for you to report on the reflections of what is 
their experimental endeavor on a problem they 
feel is vital. 



190 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Eev. "Wm. L. Barrett, Belief ontaine, Ohio : — 
My experience in Brotherhood work is that the 
Brotherhood which does things is the Brother- 
hood that studies the Bible. There is a class in 
Bellefontaine, Ohio. The teacher is here and 
ought to be heard from. They have organized 
a Brotherhood Bible Class, beginning with nine 
men. They have an enrollment of four hundred 
and twenty-five, and that Brotherhood is doing 
things for every part of the church, because it 
makes a supreme study of the Bible. 

Charles T. Thompson, Minneapolis: — I tell 
you brethren there is one thing that is laid to 
my conscience and heart, and it is this : These 
outside works in which our congregations are 
interested, I believe in them all, but I tell you 
the thing for a Brotherhood man to remember is 
when he gives himself to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
he has consecrated himself first and foremost to 
do all that he can to make the work of that par- 
ticular church and of the pastor of that church 
as effective as possible to the advancement of 
the world and advancement of His Kingdom. 
That is the primary object, and if I thought the 
Brotherhood meant anything less I would not 
be a member. You think you have business com- 
mon sense, and you have. Take your business 
common sense; come together; use that busi- 
ness common sense; find out the problems of 
your congregations and go to work and assist 
your pastors and elders to work out the prob- 



ST. LOUIS CONTENTION 191 

leins ; and if you will do that you will do more to 
advance the work of Jesus Christ. I am just 
sick sometimes when I hear one of the grand 
causes presented, the cause of ministerial relief, 
home missions; magnificent causes that ought to 
inspire our hearts and bring from our pockets 
such amounts that the treasury of the Lord will 
be overflowing. I doubt if three per cent at least 
of our churches know what the ministers are 
talking about. Get them interested in the work 
of the church. Get them to solve the problems, 
which are there, to equip your Sabbath Schools, 
how to provide the teachers, prepare the men 
and women to teach the classes; and above all 
things, brethren, try to make your individual 
church, try to make the pastor of your indi- 
vidual church just as effective in the Providence 
of God as you can possibly do it, and if you can 
do that you will be a real Brotherhood man. 

Bev. W. L. Barrett, Belief ontaine, Ohio: — 
When you have a Bible Class carry out the 
International Sunday School lessons and not 
social problems. I want to say to you that the 
Brotherhood of Bellefontaine has all kinds of 
men in that class. Men who are church members 
and men who have not been in church for thirty- 
five years, and they all attend regularly. We 
have followed the Sunday School lessons. 

A Delegate: — We are educating the people 
for enterprises in our church. Three or four 



192 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

years ago the Brotherhood assumed the Sabbath 
evening services. One of the features is occa- 
sionally to have one of the great enterprises 
of our church presented. We have the freed- 
man's problem presented and the Missionary 
enterprise. It was interesting to the people. 
Our president presides, reads the Scripture, 
some member of the Brotherhood leads in 
prayer, and that evening the pastor takes a 
back seat. 

Dr. Harris H. Gregg, St. Louis, Mo.: — The 
men of this church desire that the men who 
leave this convention will not only talk about 
studying the Bible, but take it up. I asked 
Mr. Springer to get a number of copies of the 
"Crowned Christ/' Such a book about the per- 
son of our Lord is invaluable for your own per- 
sonal life. We have a table of tracts this morn- 
ing in the vestibule. On your way home we 
would suggest that you win a soul to Christ. 
That you may do that, you may get a leaflet, 
"Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment.' ' Ask the 
Lord if he will not give you a soul on the way 
home. The first soul I ever led to Christ was 
on the New York Central; he had been away 
from his home for seven years and everything 
had gone to pieces. He went home to his mother, 
a widow, telling her he had accepted Christ. 

A Delegate : — The Brotherhood of Washing- 
ton, Ohio, has made two solemn promises, to 
attend the evening service in a body; the other 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 193 

to attend the Bible Class every Sunday morning 
or have an excuse. 

A Delegate: — Our Brotherhood is planning 
in the next two weeks to make a religious can- 
vass to locate the young men in the various 
rooming and boarding houses ; and the Brother- 
hood is to be divided into certain companies to 
be responsible for each district. Each member 
of the Brotherhood will try to bring one young 
man into relationship with the Saviour. We are 
looking forward to a season of spiritual devel- 
opment. 

Chairman Jones : — I will close this conference 
on time. What you have asked for is hard to 
speak of in two minutes and a half. Just this. 
On Bally Day, the last day of September last 
fall, we had a large congregation present and 
were very much pleased, all of us, with the serv- 
ice. Next day I visited an old gentleman and 
when through telling him about it he asked me, 
"Was anyone converted? Were there any con- 
versions that day?" And I did not know that 
there were. It came to me as it never came be- 
fore, and I called the session together and told 
them about it; and they suggested we begin 
with the Brotherhood and work through the 
Brotherhood, and lay our plans and get the 
Brotherhood together. On Sunday afternoon 
the Brotherhood met to hear the plans. One 
hundred men that afternoon signed a card prom- 



194 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

ising to lead one soul to Jesus before the com- 
munion season. The session kept in touch with 
them, and we also gave to each man who signed 
a card the name and street address of three or 
four persons to be called upon, to present this 
matter to them, and from the pulpit and every 
opportunity we had we kept this thought before 
them. We promised them they were not to be 
asked to unite with the church or to come to 
the church services, but to put to them the 
question of their personal salvation. You will 
be surprised how gladly men will receive you 
when you go to them about their personal salva- 
tion and try to point them to the Lamb of God. 
On the morning of our Communion Service, 
ninety-four persons were received into the mem- 
bership of the church ; fifty- two were men, and 
all were ready to testify that they had been 
spoken to by men of our Brotherhood on this 
question. That work is going on yet. We had 
our church, which seats nearly seven hundred, 
on that day, filled fifteen minutes before service. 
Had to turn them into the lecture room ; had to 
call a minister in to administer the Lord's Sup- 
per to them. We are progressing on the same 
plans towards the Communion in April, when 
we hope to receive, if not one hundred, at least 
half a hundred through this personal campaign. 
Here is what every Brotherhood can do and 
here is how you can do it : the work of personal 
evangelism. There were men in our Brother- 
hood who said, "I do not believe you can get 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 195 

our men to do it. ' ' A hundred signed cards and 
they did it. They were gladly received through 
the community and this is a work which any 
Brotherhood can do. I thank you for your great 
assistance as well as for your patience. 



PKESENT DAY PBOBLEMS. 

LED BY MR. THOMAS E. HODGES, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF 

THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST VIRGINIA, 

MORGANTOWN, W. VA. 

Mr. Hodges : — I am glad, indeed, to have this 
privilege. I am unworthy to fill the position 
assigned me here, but I am glad to have some 
hand in taking up the discussion of these pres- 
ent-day problems ; and let me say they are not, 
perhaps, more present-day than the other prob- 
lems we have been discussing, for this has been 
a convention of problems, and that is why we 
like it; they challenge for solution, and that is 
where it gets close to us men. We have had here 
the problem of the Men and Eeligion Forward 
Movement, of the Evangelization of America; 
we have had the problem presented to us of 
the Bible and its study. We have had the prob- 
lem of the world-wide work of the Church iij 
Missions. We have had the problem of indi- 
vidual loyalty; we have heard the problem of 
the rural church. Here, grouped together, this 
afternoon we have three or four problems, to 
which we must give a little time. 

We think, doubtless, our problems are great 
problems, and I suppose they are; if they were 

196 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 19^ 

not they would not be worth while for us to 
consider. But men, it has been the privilege 
and high mission of the church of Jesus Christ 
to solve great problems all through her history. 
There were problems in the days of Paul ; there 
were problems in the day of Luther and Calvin 
and Knox, and those of later days; and yet 
under God they were solved. The problems of 
the twentieth century are not for contempla- 
tion, they are for solution, and they appeal to 
men. In the time for these problems this after- 
noon, perhaps little more can be done than to 
state them. Do you not know that a problem 
clearly stated is well on the way to solution? If 
we could get nothing more done than a clear 
statement of the problems before us, as follow- 
ers of Christ, he will lead us to their solution. 
I do not know what the speakers will say, and 
it is well, of course, that I do not. I have but 
one thing to bespeak for them. That they shall 
be on the plane of Christian optimism ; they will 
not present these problems as insurmountable 
barriers, but show them to us in a way to make 
us feel that the solution of them is to be, in part 
at least, attained. The first one is the splendid 
problem of Eeligion in the Home. I know of 
no one more able to discuss that than Professor 
Erdman ; he needs no introduction. 

Religion in the Home. 

Eev. Chables E. Ekdman, D.D. : — There are 
no insoluble problems in this world ; and in the 



198 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

sphere of religious experience that is especially 
true. This problem of Eeligion in the Home 
is so vital and important just because it is so 
inseparably connected with all the other great 
problems that come to us for our consideration 
and solution. For instance, if we were speak- 
ing of the matter of ignorance of the Bible ; if 
Professor Phelps, of Yale, is telling us of the 
ignorance of the student, it is because of the 
ignorance in the home. If Mr. Mott gives him- 
self for three years to the study of the problem 
of the decline of candidates for the ministry, 
he says chiefly and specifically it is because of 
the decay of religion in the home. If we should 
go on to discuss Sabbath Observance, we see it 
is because of the decadence of religion in the 
home. We know all these things and we ap- 
preciate the problem. 

What has the Brotherhood to do with this 
vital problem? That is what we want you to 
consider this afternoon when I have done. What 
can the Brotherhood do ? The Brotherhood can 
present to the men of the Church as represen- 
tatives the problem ; and it can ask the men to 
assist with the solution. Our individual 
Brotherhood meetings should be reflections of 
this great convention, and we should present 
these problems and enlist the sympathy and 
prayer and interest in the thought of our men. 
What can you do, brothers? How much does 
it press on your own hearts, religion in your 
family circle? What can we do? We can create 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 199 

in our own home circles an indefinable Chris- 
tian atmosphere, suggested, for instance, by Mr. 
Trumbull. When the father of the family, when 
the husband, the head of the family, may bring 
every question and view it in the light of the 
conscious presence and power of the divine 
Saviour and Lord, an atmosphere can be created 
which may be indefinable, but all powerful. 
Specifically and definitely, I suppose the prob- 
lem centers around the family altar. I need 
not repeat the statement that the family altars 
are falling down, and if they are falling down 
in our homes it is because of the indifference 
of the men. There is the responsibility of th& 
men. 

Not long ago I was called to the beside of a 
woman said to be dying. After I prayed there, 
I spoke to the husband in the next room. I said, 
"Do you have a family altar in this homer' 
He said, "No." "If the Lord answers the 
prayers,' ' I said, "that we have been praying 
together; don't you want to promise me and 
your Lord that henceforth you will always have 
family worship in the morning?" 

With tears in his eyes he said, "Until I was 
married I always read my Bible every morn- 
ing." 

"Do you think the reason you have no family 
altar is because this dear little wife is at fault?" 

1 ' Oh, no ; of course not. ' ' 

Why is it we have no family worship in our 
homes? How far are we responsible? I know 



200 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

it is a problem. I know in some cases it is al- 
most impossible for the father to have family 
worship; he leaves home before it is light and 
gets home after the children are abed. I know 
it is so. If we go back to our homes and churches 
to see what we can do I am sure we will see 
changes worked and altars erected. The blessed 
influence of these altars ! How many souls have 
been brought to Christ through the influence of 
the family altar? I have in mind a family; and 
there came into that home two Swedish serv- 
ants, and these maids were not Christians, either 
one. I was surprised to learn in that home cir- 
cle, while no word had been spoken concerning 
Christ or religion to either one of these 
girls, how within three months' time they 
had both been brought to a personal knowledge 
of Christ as Lord and Saviour. How? Because 
they had been invited to the brief morning wor- 
ship, and they had heard the Scripture, and they 
had followed the prayer, and they had found 
Christ. It is not only upon those that are 
not Christians the influence comes; it is 
upon the father that reads. The sainted 
pastor of this church, Dr. Brookes, found at 
his own family altar a marvelous blessing 
which blessed a large number. The first 
time I heard Dr. Brookes speak, he said: 
"What led me to the study of prophecy was 
an experience in my family worship. I had 
been reading in the New Testament and had fin- 
ished Jude, and said that as the next book was 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION £01 

Revelation, and we did not understand it, we 
would not read it. I went to my study after a 
while and I thought of what I had said, and 
what I had done, and I thought I would take up 
that Book of Revelation and read it myself ; and 
I took it up and read, l Blessed is he that readeth 
the words of the prophecy of this book.' The 
thought came, have I been denying that to my 
family circle ?" He read the book again and 
again, and he was led in this way to a study of 
prophecy. Have we been denying something to 
our family circles? Have we been denying the 
Word of God ! Have we been denying prayer,— 
the influences which we might exert in our fam- 
ily circles ; those influences which will abide for- 
ever? They used to tell us an old fable of the 
submerging of an Island on which there was 
a monastery, and in which there was a chapel ; 
and that a bell had been heard to ring out over 
the dark waters until the Island was submerged. 
The story was, after it had been submerged, 
long years after, the sailors on a quiet night 
would still hear the sounding of the bell that 
had been submerged. We do not believe it. We 
do believe this, — there is not a man today who 
can look back in his quiet times, and when he 
listens cannot hear the sound of his father's 
voice as he knelt in prayer; the message from 
God as it came to him as a boy by the family 
altar; he is cheered and strengthened and em- 
powered for the service of his Lord. Solve your 
own problem in your family, then see if you 



202 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

cannot lead your brothers in Christ into the 
blessed privilege of a family altar. 

I was asked to reserve the last two minutes 
for any that might ask questions. 

A Delegate : — What is done when there are 
Catholics and Protestants in the same home? 

Dr. Erdman : — I can say frequently that Cath- 
lic members of households appear willing to 
come to the family altar. I should always invite 
them. 

Chairman Hodges : — It is a far cry from the 
conditions of fifty to seventy-five years ago, 
when men labored for themselves and sold the 
product of their labor chiefly. Now we have the 
division into employers and those who work for 
others. It is a matter of great pride that our 
Church is setting itself to grapple with this 
problem and its solution. We are going to give 
a little time this afternoon to the problem of the 
Church and the Laboring Man, and it will be 
discussed by James J. Phillis, Coraopolis, Pa. 

The Church and the Laboring Man. 

James J. Phillis, Coraopolis, Pa.: — I come 
from the Railroad World. I come in my humble 
way to try and present to you the claims of the 
laboring man. I cannot help but think of the 
text of the Master when he spoke of the sheep of 
the other fold. The laboring men are the sheep 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 203 

of the other fold. I might illustrate this by a 
personal experience within the last three 
months. I was riding on the freight elevator 
in one of the large department stores in Pitts- 
burgh, and started up a conversation with the 
operator and began to present to him in short 
time the claims of Jesus Christ, and left him 
after I had in my weak way done the best I 
could. He reached in his pocket the next time 
he saw me and said, "Here is something I would 
like you to read. ' ' I remember this about it ; it 
stated that a real live pastor out on the western 
sections wanted to know why the working man 
was not in the church. He prepared a stereo- 
typed letter and mailed it to laboring organiza- 
tions with certain questions. One of the or- 
ganizations, a typographical union, appointed 
a committee to investigate. I don't mind all the 
answers; I do mind this one, "If the men that 
are at the head of our organization are church 
members, and we see them going to church, and 
if the church stands for that kind of men who 
want to hold us down to long hours and less 
money, we don't want any of it." That is the 
solving of the problem ; what part have you and 
I and what are we showing to the men? Are 
we standing for these things, less wages and 
longer hours? That was the reason they did 
not want any of it. 

Men of the Presbyterian Church, we have got 
to get away from such a standard. We have 



204 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHEBHOOD 

got to set the standard higher, if we want to get 
the workingman into the Church. I recall last 
Sunday I was out on some automobile work 
under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. in front 
of the Union Station. I was introduced to make 
a little address, and next day there came a 
young man and said he heard the address and 
wanted a position. I was instrumental in get- 
ting him a position. We hold a shop meeting 
every few weeks; I believe in carrying the re- 
ligion to the men; so we hold a shop meeting. 
On the platform one day we had a Presbyterian 
minister from the South Side. After the meet- 
ing was over I was telling about this young fel- 
low I had hired there. He moved to the South 
Side ; he had separated from his wife and they 
had two little children, and after he had found 
work we got his home started again. This min- 
ister said this man was a Lutheran and the wife 
was a Methodist, and we got them into the 
Presbyterian Church. The Gospel of Jesus 
Christ was being preached around the platform 
and places of business; it is our business to 
carry the gospel in the shops. They are ready 
and waiting for it. They do not want to hear 
any tommy- rot or baby-talk. They want to hear 
the real story of the Cross ; they want to hear 
of the saving power of Jesus Christ. I recall 
a young fellow who at one time was left $12,- 
000, and went abroad and came back with noth- 
ing. I said to him: "Jack, I would like to see 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 205 

you use your life for Jesus Christ. I will not 
ask to cut out drinking or to cut out your card 
playing; I will ask you not to do anything but 
ask Jesus if he would want you to do those 
things. " " Oh, no, ' ' he replied, ' ' I could not do 
any of those things if I should do what you want 
me to." We have not that conviction to stay 
away from theatre parties, and card parties; 
yet the working man, down and out, has that 
vision and knows what we ought to do and what 
he ought to be. 

I believe we ought to do this work because 
of the bigness of the problem. It is a big prob- 
lem, and that is the reason that it appeals to the 
manhood, to you and us as Presbyterian men, to 
organize a little meeting ; we can get the work- 
ingmen there and you can get the strongest 
men in the church to come and give them the 
Gospel. We can get Dr. Alexander and Dr. 
Young; they are glad to give the men the Gospel 
and tell the story of Jesus and his love to the 
men who are waiting for it. 

Chairman Hodges: — That is what we might 
call a warm member. We will think about this 
when it is all over and perhaps when we get 
back to the work in our homes we can carry out 
the suggestions thus presented to us. 

Now we come to the problem, "The Place of 
the Church in the Life of the Community. ' ' This 
is to be discussed by George E. Raitt, of Pitts- 
burgh. 



206 the presbyterian brotherhood 

The Place of the Chuech in the Life of the 
Community. 

George E. Baitt, Pittsburgh : — Mr. Chairman 
and Brethren of the Convention : — If there were 
time this afternoon, I wish I might convey to you 
the respects of the men of the United Presby- 
terian Church, and tell you we are all very pro- 
foundly praying for the time when we will all be 
united (applause) Presbyterians. (Laughter.) 
I feel very much at home here. You have ex- 
alted Jesus Christ our Master so much; I feel 
anybody, any Christian, would feel at home in 
this gathering. I have been asked to speak on 
The Place of the Church in the Life of the Com- 
munity. I know of no better definition of the 
Church of Jesus Christ than given to the man to 
whom Jesus Christ said: "On this rock I shall 
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it." Peter, speaking to Chris- 
tian men, says: "Ye are an elect race, a royal 
priesthood, an holy nation, a people for God's 
own possession," and I do not know where you 
will find a more scientific definition of what the 
Church of Christ is than those terms. "Ye are 
all this that ye may show forth the excellency 
of Him who hath called you out of darkness 
into His marvelous light." There we have the 
place of the Church in the community. It ought 
to be uplifting in the educational forces. I be- 
lieve the Church of Christ ought to be a social 
feature, not only of the rural community but in 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION £07 

the city. I believe the Church of Christ ought 
to be an economic force, and we will not be 
brought into the golden age until people begin 
to regulate their own life by the golden rule. 
The peace of this world, — we will never know 
what peace is until the Prince of Peace reigns 
in the hearts of the people. That is not the 
purpose of the Church. The great purpose is 
to show forth the excellencies of Him who has 
called us out of darkness. How are you going to 
do it? Suppose you want to have one man 
know another. How are you going to do it? 
By telling how he looks ? By talking about what 
he does ? Not until you bring the other man into 
contact with your man and let him have a meet- 
ing and acquaintance with that man. The Church 
of Christ is the Body of Christ, and just as the 
body is the medium by which we know human 
souls, so this body is the medium by which we 
can get men to know Christ. If nothing more 
had been said at this Convention than was said 
by Mr. Trumbull, it would have been well worth 
while to go from San Francisco to St. Louis to 
hear it. God has given this world many remark- 
able gifts ; given us great blessings ; but God has 
only given this world one unspeakable gift, and 
until the Church of Christ makes its chief busi- 
ness to make Jesus Christ known to the com- 
munity it is failing of its purpose. 

May I give you an illustration before I sit 
down. Until about three months ago I was pas- 
tor of a church in Philadelphia. There came to 



208 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

that church for about five years a cultured fel- 
low, a man up in all the questions of the day. I 
used to wonder why he came to church ; I could 
not get near to the man. Two weeks before I 
left my church I was sent for by this gentleman. 
When I came into the house he said to me, ' l Mr. 
Eaitt, I have been convinced that there is such 
a thing as spiritual power, and I believe as never 
before that Jesus Christ can live in the life of 
a man ; and I want to tell you that I believe that 
is worth more than all the millions of Kockef el- 
ler, or anyone else in the world. I am bound I 
shall have it for myself if possible. ' ' I told him 
that I believed God meant it when he said, 
"They that search for me will find me." The 
last Sabbath I spent in that church I had the joy 
of not only receiving the man but his little ten- 
year-old boy into the Church of Christ; and I 
went home with him, and I asked him if he would 
kindly tell me what it was that convinced him 
that there was such a thing as Jesus living in 
the life of a man. He told me of the illness of 
the wife of a man in the church. "As a good 
neighbor I thought I should offer my sympathy. 
' I appreciate your kindness,' he said, 'but I 
want to tell you kindly, if your sympathy was 
all I had to depend on I would be in a sorry 
plight, but I have a power buoying me up that is 
more than in any man. ' I told my wife he had a 
power that I did not know anything about. I 
watched that man from that day to this." And 
after I talked with him about it, I talked to the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 209 

other man, and he said: "I used to wonder 
why he came over so often. ' ' My friend told me 
that, l ' after watching him for three years, I am 
convinced that Jesus can live in the life of a 
man and is the best thing any man can have." 
I asked him what would be his advice to a pastor 
and he said, "Get such and such a man (calling 
him by name), and these other men like them, 
and get them to themselves and reveal to them 
Jesus Christ, and send them out; and I want to 
tell you, Mr. Eaitt, that I never knew what life 
was until Jesus came to live in my life." 

A young man volunteering to go to Africa as 
a missionary passed a creditable examination, 
and after it was all through they said to him, 
"My friend, you have passed one of the best 
examinations that a man passed before this 
board. Before you receive your appointment, I 
would like to ask one more question. Suppose 
after you have been in Africa ten years and 
been successful, King Leopold would come to 
you and offer you ten thousand dollars a year 
to go in his employ, what would you do?" The 
young man, who was sincere and thoughtful, 
looked down a few moments and replied, "If 
King Leopold would make me an offer like that 
I think, I don't know, but I think I would take a 
good look at the Lord Jesus Christ and I would 
say no." My brothers, can we not as members 
of the Church of Jesus Christ have Christ living 
in us, so that our brethren living in a community 
can see Christ when they see us ? 



THE BROTHERHOOD 
AND THE BIBLE 



THE BROTHERHOOD AND THE BIBLE 

BY PKOF. CHAELES B. ERDMAN, D.D., PRINCETON, N. J. 

Mr. President: Bible study and prayer are 
inseparable sources of the spiritual strength de- 
manded for the service of the King. Prayer is 
the necessary atmosphere for profitable Bible 
study, but habitual Bible study alone secures 
perseverance and power in prayer. George 
Miiller, the famous founder of the Bristol or- 
phanages, was a famous modern examplar of 
the ministry of intercession; yet he stated that 
he failed in his plan and purpose of beginning 
each day with a season of prayer, until he 
adopted the method of first opening his Bible ; 
and then, as he read, he found himself instinct- 
ively returning thanks and offering petitions. 
As God spoke to him through the Word, he was 
impelled to address God in prayer. 

And this relation which Bible study sustains 
to prayer it sustains to all departments and 
forms of Christian service. It thus suggests to 
our Brotherhood both a worthy objective and 
also a means of increasing the efficiency of all 
other lines of work. There are many such lines. 
The "Things Accomplished' ' are very numer- 
ous. A recent issue of "The Presbyterian 

213 , . j 



214 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Brotherhood " contained a list of, not "57 varie- 
ties," but 87 varieties of service which the 
Brotherhood has undertaken with success. It 
included almost everything, from the promotion 
of sociability to the prevention of tuberculo- 
sis ; from preaching to baseball. Some hungry 
brotherhoods seem to "eat to live," some "live 
to eat"; some idle or hibernate in the atmos- 
phere of "smokers," while some take them- 
selves very seriously and seek to superintend 
the earth. But in this curious catalogue of en- 
deavor, my eye fell on a golden aphorism: 
"Found — that the Bible Class gives immortal- 
ity to the Brotherhood organization." This is 
a striking way of stating the thesis that the 
stimulation of Bible study, or the increase of 
Bible knowledge, is not only a worthy end in 
itself, but given inspiration and guidance to 
every legitimate form of Brotherhood work. 

For instance, certain brotherhoods are en- 
deavoring to do something for the betterment 
of civic and political conditions ; but the Bible 
is the very foundation of our free institutions, 
the palladium of our national life. Amidst the 
present confusion of social theories, there is one 
infallible guide : it is the Word of God. Chris- 
tian principles and Christian ideals must mold 
our civic and national life. The Bible alone can 
give the light for intelligent activity, the motive 
for unselfish service. In a public square of an 
eastern city stands an imposing bronze statue 
of a Pilgrim, who, with confident step and de- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION £15 

termined look, is moving forward to aid in the 
establishment of an imperishable state ; and in 
his arm he is clasping a massive copy of the 
Bible. This is to be his counselor, his instructor, 
and his guide. For us, as citizens, nothing can 
be more patriotic, no social service can be more 
real, than the stimulation of the study of the 
Word of God. If we are going to follow in the 
footsteps of those who gave us our national 
freedom, it will be only as we too are uphold- 
ing the Bible, and seeing to it that Bible truth 
is made known to the men and boys of our na- 
tion. We like to pause today and pay our trib- 
ute of respect to one whom God gave us, the 
great hero, who was " first in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of 'his countrymen. ' ' If 
we are true to such leaders we shall see to it 
that this Book has a first place in our churches, 
in our schools, in our homes, and in our per- 
sonal lives. 

Or again, our purpose may be the advance- 
ment of evangelistic work. "The Brotherhood 
and the Gospel" is our Convention theme. Our 
hearts are thrilled by the prospects of the "Men 
and Eeligion Movement/ ' How better can men 
be prepared for this great enterprise than by 
having placed in their hands the Word of God? 
I see in vision another "Pilgrim''; he is being 
pointed by "Evangelist" toward the wicket 
gate and the way of life, toward the Cross and 
the Celestial City. He is so eager to receive 
guidance because, while there is a burden on 



216 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

his back, there is a Book in his hand. The book 
has told him of his need and awakened within 
him a longing for light. We must place this 
Bible in the hands of men if we would have 
them aroused to their deepest needs, and started 
on the path of life. So, too, if workers are to 
be found, personal evangelists seeking to guide 
individual souls, it will be among those men 
who know the truths of the Bible, and the Christ 
of the Bible, and who believe ' i there is no other 
name given among men whereby we must be 
saved. ' ' 

Or again, if the Brotherhood is to be an ag- 
gressive missionary force ; if it is to be inspired 
by a true breadth of vision ; if it is to encour- 
age mission study classes, and to worthily sup- 
port the supreme enterprise of making Christ 
known to all the world, it will only be as its 
members are keeping in vital contact with the 
Word of God. The Bible is the missionary 
book; it outlines the missionary programme; 
it voices the missionary appeal ; it inspires the 
missionary motive. As was well said by a 
speaker at the Edinburgh Conference : Men will 
not be moved to missionary service by the state- 
ment of how many heathen are without Christ, 
or how much money will be required to evan- 
gelize the nations, but by a clear vision of how 
much it cost to redeem the world. "He loved 
me and gave Himself for me" — that is the 
thrilling message of the Bible — which men who 
would have a missionary spirit need to read 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION '217 

again and again, until they are eager to live 
"no longer for themselves, but for Him who 
for their sakes died and rose again." 

So, too, for all phases of Brotherhood work, 
the stimulation of Bible study will result in 
new efficiency and power. Nor is the task novel 
or difficult. It seems to be agreed that no other 
effort has proved so easy to inaugurate or so 
certain of results. The easiest thing is not 
usually the best thing, and the hardest tasks 
make the most powerful appeal to strong men ; 
but some of us are of such unheroic mold as to 
confess to ourselves that we are not the less 
willing to undertake tasks of supreme impor- 
tance when we are assured of measurable suc- 
cess. 

Bible study can be stimulated by the organi- 
zation of Bible classes; this first and most ob- 
viously. The Brotherhood is here not usurp- 
ing the place of the Sabbath School, but only 
rendering invaluable and needed aid. The Sab- 
bath School problem is one of the most vital in 
the present life of our Presbyterian Church. It 
is stated that 85 per cent of all the additions 
to our church are from the Sabbath School; 
but 75 per cent of our Sabbath School scholars 
never unite with the church. This last startling 
assertion is based upon the fact that less than 
3 per cent of the scholars are received into full 
church-membership each year, and the average 
period of attendance is about ten years. Of 
this 75 per cent of Sabbath School scholars who 



218 THE PKESBYTERIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

leave the school without uniting with the church, 
the larger proportion are young men. Here is 
the opportunity for the Brotherhood. Its plan 
of organization, its social features, its flexibility 
of method, make it a fit instrument for the for- 
mation of classes, which will not only retain 
the interest of young men who have been mem- 
bers of the school, but which will secure the 
attendance of men who have been connected 
with neither school nor church. In the estab- 
lishment and conduct of such classes, the en- 
deavor should be (1) to retain a vital and or- 
ganic connection with the Sabbath School, 
whether new classes are formed or groups of 
classes are united or federated by the Brother- 
hood. (2) Bible study must be the actual work 
of these classes. The teaching must not assume 
the form of mere desultory lectures on social 
and moral and religious themes. (3) The aim 
must be efficiency rather than a large enroll- 
ment. Success must be measured by results in 
awakened interest in the Bible, in personal ded- 
ication to Christ, in zeal for Christian service. 
(4) The effort must be to reach men most in 
need of religious influence, and least likely to 
have opportunity for Bible instruction. These 
most needy groups will often demand the adop- 
tion of extraordinary methods, such as those of 
the Home Department of the Sunday School, 
the Extension Bible Class, the Shop Meeting, or 
the "Bailroad Service' ' of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. (5) Men must be encour 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 219 

aged to fit themselves for Bible-Class leaders. 
Here is the crux of the problem of the modern 
Sabbath School and of the related department 
of Brotherhood work. The supreme need is of 
teachers and teacher-training classes. Surely, 
the organized men of the church will not fail 
to respond to the cry for leadership in this 
important field of Christian work. 

Interest in the Bible can be increased by occa- 
sional courses of lectures on Bible themes, de- 
livered under the auspices of the Brotherhood. 
A layman, a former member of this very 
(Compton Avenue) church, recently delivered 
at Princeton a lecture on "The Tabernacle, ' ' 
using an admirable model, and deeply interest- 
ing an audience of men to whom such matters 
might be regarded as familiar commonplaces; 
but real knowledge of the Bible is surprisingly 
rare, and a true setting forth of its contents is 
of perennial interest. "The Bible and His- 
tory," "The Bible and Modern Excavations," 
"The Bible and Social Problems," "The Bible 
and English Literature," are examples of 
themes which do not fail to attract audiences of 
thoughtful men. 

The Brotherhood can stimulate interest in 
Bible reading by systematic efforts along the 
line of distributing copies of the Bible, or of the 
New Testament, or of the Gospels. Most of us 
are perfectly familiar with the work of the 
"Gideons," the "Christian Commercial Trav- 
elers ' Association of America, ' ' who have placed 



220 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHEBHOOD 

some sixty thousand Bibles in the bedrooms of 
hotels in the United States and Canada. The 
proprietor of a hotel near St. Louis noticed 
that the introduction of these Bibles resulted in 
doubling the electric light bill, but was willing 
to have it even larger if occasioned by Bible 
reading. And ' ' the entrance of the Word ' ' does 
"give light." A young man from Georgia tes- 
tified: "I went into my room at a hotel some 
months ago, and saw on my table a Bible bear- 
ing the "Gideon stamp,' ' the first Bible I had 
seen for many years. It reminded me of my 
mother. I sat down and read it, finding many 
of the passages she had read to me in my boy- 
hood days, and I confess it went to my heart as 
nothing ever did before. That night I went to 
prayer meeting, found Christ, and have been 
serving Him and carrying a Bible in my grip 
ever since.' ' 

Most of us, also, are acquainted with the 
Pocket Testament League, each member of 
which is given a special copy of the New Testa- 
ment, on promising to carry in the pocket the 
Testament or some part of the Bible, and to 
read at least one chapter every day. In this 
way hundreds of thousands of Testaments and 
Gospels have been distributed, and countless 
lives transformed. An engineer took a copy of 
the Gospel of John and gave it to the tower 
man. Three weeks later he came back and said, 
"I have read that book through four times; I 
am a different man." He was a most unclean 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 221 

man before that time. His wife said, "We 
have a different home now because of the 
Book." 

It would be well if each local Brotherhood 
should enlist its members in some such definite 
work, with a view of placing an inspired mes- 
sage in the hands and hearts of men. 

The Brotherhood can adopt methods for se- 
curing the more regular reading of the Bible in 
the homes of its members, and of their friends 
and acquaintances. Our family altars have 
fallen ; the voice of God, speaking through His 
Word, is seldom heard in our family circles. No 
greater calamity could have come to our Church 
and our land. Let the men of our Church, or- 
ganized for Christian work, make a definite 
effort towards securing for the children of our 
homes, the blessed influences which molded the 
lives of earlier generations, which impressed 
divine truth on hearts at an age most ready 
to receive such messages, which inspired abid- 
ing impulses : 

"Thoughts which wake to perish never; 

Which listlessnes nor mad endeavor, 

Nor man nor boy, nor all that is at enmity with joy, 

Can utterly abolish or destroy.' 7 

Above all, the Brotherhood must endeavor to 
guide and stimulate its members, in methods 
and habits of personal Bible study. The matter 
should be discussed at Brotherhood meetings, 
and counsel and encouragement frequently 
given. Men should be made to feel that this 



222 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

study is to be daily. They should be persuaded 
that it is possible. Time can be found. All 
are conscious of the difficulty, and need encour- 
agement to persevere. Dr. Weston read the 
New Testament through once every month for 
forty years. "Enoch," a negro porter em- 
ployed by the Pennsylvania railroad in Phila- 
delphia, like the Enoch of old, "walks with 
God." He does so by means of his daily Bible 
study. He must be at work by seven every day, 
but he rises in time to read, before breakfast, 
a chapter or Psalm, the number of which corre- 
sponds with the day of the month (it might be 
the twenty-second Psalm today) ; he then com- 
mits to memory some one verse he has read ; his 
soul feeds on this message all day. It is not 
a remarkable method; the remarkable thing is 
that for seven years he has never been known 
to fail in memorizing his verse. We can find 
the time, if we will. 

While sitting here this morning I was re- 
minded by the presence of a dear friend of a 
visit to the home of his dear father, who was 
known throughout the length and breadth of 
the Church. This dear friend took me up to 
the room adjoining his father's bedroom, and 
showed me a table and on that table a book. 
For one hour each day that busy Presbyterian 
layman, that man who had so many interests, 
that man for whom much might be waiting in 
his office, would go and read his Bible and speak 
with his Lord. When he was dying, his son told 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 223 

me, he asked, "I wish you would bring me the 
Bible. " "I brought him this book ; it fell down 
on his breast, and he looked up with tears in his 
eyes, 'If I could take this book with me'; and 
for the time he was forgetting the loved ones ; 
he was thinking of his book that brought him 
nearer to Christ, his Savior, and gave him 
strength for the service in the Kingdom. ' ' 

This study must be definite. We must have 
some purpose in view. We may read for knowl- 
edge, or to aid us in worship, or to prepare us 
for service, or for growth in grace. There must 
ever be an aim in view, if the study is to be 
fruitful and helpful. 

Above all, it must be devotional, and that in 
the simplest, truest sense. It must be with a 
desire to secure a better knowledge of Christ, 
of His person and work, of His power and pres- 
ence, of His purpose and His will; but with a 
conscious willingness to yield ourselves, our 
lives, our plans, our all to Him. 

The stimulating of such Bible study is 
the highest, holiest service the Presbyterian 
Brotherhood can render to its members, to our 
homes, to our churches, to our land, and to our 
Lord. 



THE LIFE THAT WINS 



THE LIFE THAT WINS. 

BY CHARLES GALLAUDET TRUMBULL, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

There is only one life that wins ; and that is 
the life of Jesus Christ. Every man may have 
that life ; every man may live that life. 

I do not mean that every man may be Christ- 
like; I mean something very much better than 
that. I do not mean that a man may always 
have Christ's help; I mean something better 
than that. I do not mean that a man may have 
power from Christ; I mean something very 
much better than power. And I do not mean 
that a man shall be saved from his sins and 
kept from sinning; I mean something better 
than even that victory. 

To tell you what I do mean, I must simply tell 
you a very personal and recent experience of 
my own. I think I am correct when I say that 
I have known more than most men know about 
failure, about betrayals and dishonorings of 
Christ, about disobedience to heavenly visions, 
about conscious fallings short of that which I 
saw other men attaining, and which I knew 
Christ was expecting of me. Not a great while 
ago I should have had to stop just there, and 

227 



228 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

say simply I hoped that some day I would be 
led out of all that, I knew not how, into some- 
thing better, I knew not what. But, thanks be 
to His long-suffering patience and infinite love 
and mercy, I do not have to stop there this 
morning, but I can go on to speak of something 
better than a miserable story of personal fail- 
ure and disappointment. 

The conscious needs of my life, before there 
came the new experience of Christ of which I 
would tell you, were definite enough. Three in 
particular stand out: 

1. There were great fluctuations in my spir- 
itual life, in my conscious closeness of fellow- 
ship with God. Sometimes I would be on the 
heights spiritually; sometimes I would be in 
the depths. A strong convention, such as this ; 
a stirring address from some consecrated, victo- 
rious Christian like Speer or Mott ; a searching, 
Spirit-filled book, or the obligation to do a diffi- 
cult piece of Christian service myself, with the 
preparation in prayer that it involved, would 
lift me up ; and I would stay up, — for a while, — 
and God would seem very close and my spirit- 
ual life deep. But it wouldn't last. Sometimes 
by some single failure before temptation, some- 
times by a gradual down-hill process, my best 
experiences would be lost, and I would find 
myself back on the lower levels. And a lower 
level is a perilous place for a man who calls 
himself a Christian, as the Devil showed me 
over and over again. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 229 

It seemed to me that it ought to be possible 
for me to live habitually on a high plane of 
close fellowship with God, as I saw certain 
other men doing, and as I was not doing. Those 
men were exceptional, to be sure ; they were in 
the minority among the Christians whom I 
knew. But I wanted to be in that minority. 
Why shouldn't we all be, and turn it into a 
majority? 

2. Another conscious lack of my life was in 
the matter of failure before besetting sins. I 
was not fighting a winning fight in certain lines. 
Yet if Christ was not equal to a winning fight, 
what were my Christian beliefs and professions 
good for? I did not look for sinlessness. But 
I did believe that I could be enabled to win in 
certain directions habitually, yes, always, in- 
stead of uncertainly and interruptedly, the vic- 
tories interspersed with crushing and humiliat- 
ing defeats. Yet I had prayed, oh, so earnestly 
for deliverance; and the habitual deliverance 
had not come. 

3. A third conscious lack was in the matter 
of dynamic, convincing spiritual power that 
would work miracle-changes in other men's 
lives. I was doing a lot of Christian work — 
had been at it ever since I was a boy of fifteen. 
I was going through the motions, — oh, yes. So 
can anybody. I was even doing personal work, 
— the hardest kind of all; talking with people 
one by one about giving themselves to my 
Saviour. But I wasn't seeing results. Once in 



230 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

a great while I would see a little in the way 
of result, of course; but not much. I didn't see 
lives made over by Christ, revolutionized, 
turned into firebrands for Christ themselves, 
because of my work; and it seemed to me I 
ought to. Other men did, why not I? I com- 
forted myself with the old assurance (so much 
used by the Devil) that it wasn't for me to see 
results; that I could safely leave that to the 
Lord if I did my part. But that didn't satisfy 
me; and I was sometimes heartsick over the 
spiritual barrenness of my Christian service. 

About two years ago I began, in various 
ways, to get intimations that certain men to 
whom I looked up as conspicuously blessed in 
their Christian service seemed to have a con- 
ception or consciousness of Christ that I did 
not have, — that was beyond, bigger, deeper, 
than any thought of Christ I had ever had. I 
rebelled at the suggestion when it first came 
to me. How could any one have a better idea 
of Christ than I? (I am just laying bare to you 
the blind, self-satisfied workings of my sin- 
stunted mind and heart.) Did I not believe in 
Christ and worship Him as the Son of God 
and one with God? Had I not accepted Him as 
my personal Saviour more than twenty years 
before? Did I not believe that in Him alone 
was eternal life, and was I not trying to live 
in His service, giving my whole life to Him? 
Did I not ask his help and guidance constantly, 
and believe that in Him was my only hope? 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 231 

Was I not championing the very cause of the 
highest possible conception of Christ, by con- 
ducting in the columns of The Sunday School 
Times a symposium on the Deity of Christ, in 
which the leading Bible scholars of the world 
were testifying to their personal belief in Christ 
as God? All this I was doing: how could a 
higher or better conception of Christ than mine 
be possible? I knew that I needed to serve 
Him far better than I had ever done ; but that 
I needed a new conception of Him I could not 
admit. 

And yet it kept coming at me, from directions 
that I could not ignore. I heard Jowett of Eng- 
land preach a sermon on Ephesians 4:12, 13: 
"Unto the building up of the body of Christ; 
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto 
a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stat- 
ure of the fullness of Christ" ; and as I followed 
it I was amazed, bewildered. I couldn't follow 
him. He was beyond my depth. He was talk- 
ing about Christ, unfolding Christ, in a way 
that I admitted was utterly unknown to me. 
Whether Jowett was right or wrong I wasn't 
quite ready to say that night; but if he was 
right, then I was wrong. And I came away real- 
izing that I had heard what was to me the most 
wonderful sermon I had ever listened to. 

A little later I read another sermon of Jow- 
ett 's, in the Eecord of Christian Work, on 
"Paul's Conception of the Lord Jesus Christ." 



232 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOB 

As I read it, I was conscious of the same uneasy 
realization that he and Paul were talking about 
a Christ whom I simply did not know. Could 
they be right? If they were right, how could I 
get their knowledge? 

One day I came to know Dr. John Douglas 
Adam, who speaks the closing message of the 
convention to you to-night. I learned from him 
that what he counted his greatest spiritual 
asset was his unvarying consciousness of the 
actual presence of Jesus. Nothing bore him up 
so, he said, as the realization that Jesus was 
always with him in actual presence; and that 
this was so, independent of his own feelings, in- 
dependent of his deserts, and independent of 
his own notions as to how Jesus would manifest 
His presence. Moreover, he said that Christ 
was the home of his thoughts. Whenever his 
mind was free from other matters, it would 
turn to Christ; and he would talk aloud to 
Christ when he was alone, — on the street, any- 
where, — as easily and naturally as to a human 
friend. So real to him was Jesus' actual pres- 
ence. 

Some months later I was in Edinburgh, at- 
tending the World Missionary Conference, and 
I saw that Dr. Eobert F. Horton was to speak 
to men Sunday afternoon on "The Eesources 
of the Christian Life." His book on "The 
Triumphant Life" had helped me greatly, and 
I went eagerly to hear him. I expected him to 
give us a series of definite things that we could 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 233 

do to strengthen our Christian life ; and I knew 
I needed them. But his opening sentence 
showed me my mistake, while it made my heart 
leap with a new joy. What he said was some- 
thing like this : 

"The resources of the Christian life, my dear 
friends, are just Jesus Christ." 

That was all. But that was enough. I hadn't 
grasped it yet ; but it was what Paul, Dr. Jow- 
ett, and Dr. Adam, were trying to tell me about. 
Later, as I talked with Dr. Horton about my 
personal needs and difficulties, he said earnestly 
and simply, "Oh, Mr. Trumbull, if we would 
only step out upon Christ in a more daring 
faith, He could do so much more for us." 

Before leaving Great Britain I was con- 
fronted once more with the thought that was 
beyond me, a Christ whom I did not yet know, 
in a sermon that a friend of mine preached in 
his London church on a Sunday evening, a 
young Welsh minister, the Eev. Eichard Eob- 
erts. His text was Philippians 1:21, "To me to 
live is Christ. ' ' It was the same theme, — the un- 
folding of the life that is Christ, Christ as the 
whole life and the only life. I did not under- 
stand all that he said, and I knew vaguely that 
I did not have as my own what he was telling 
us about. But I wanted to read the sermon 
again, and I brought the manuscript away with 
me when I left him. 

It was about the middle of August that a 
crisis came with me. I was attending a young 



234 THE PBESBYTERIAN BBOTHEKHOOD 

people's missionary conference, and was faced 
by a week of daily work there for which I knew 
I was miserably, hopelessly unfit and incompe- 
tent. For the few weeks previous had been one 
of my periods of spiritual let-down, not uplift, 
with all the loss and failure and defeat that such 
a time is sure to record. The first evening that 
I was there Bishop Oldham, of India, spoke 
on the Water of Life. He told us that it was 
Christ's wish and purpose that every follower 
of His should be a wellspring of living, gushing 
water of life all the time to others, not inter- 
mittently, not interruptedly, but with contin- 
uous and irresistible flow. We have Christ's 
own word for it, he said, as he quoted, "He 
that believeth on me, from within him shall flow 
rivers of living water." He told how some 
have a little of the water of life, bringing it up 
in small bucketfuls and at intervals, like the 
irrigating water-wheel of India, with a good 
deal of creaking and grinding, while from the 
lives of others it flows all the time in a life- 
bringing, abundant stream that nothing can 
stop. And he described a little old native 
woman in India whose marvelous ministry in 
witnessing for Christ put to shame those of us 
who listened. Yet she had known Christ for 
only a year. 

The next morning was Sunday, but I did not 
go to church. Alone in my room, I prayed it 
out with God, and I asked Him to show me the 
way out. If there was a conception of Christ 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 235 

that I did not have, and that I needed because 
it was the secret of some of these other lives 
I had seen and heard of, a conception better 
than any I had yet had, and beyond me, I asked 
God to give it to me. I had Eichard Boberts' 
sermon with me, "To me to live is Christ," and 
I rose from my knees and studied it. Then I 
prayed again. And God, in His longsuffering 
patience, forgiveness, and love, gave me what 
I asked for. He gave me a new Christ, — wholly 
new in the conception and consciousness of 
Christ that now became mine. 

Wherein was the change? It is hard to put 
it into words, and yet it is, oh, so new, and real, 
and wonderful, and miracle-working in both 
my own life and the lives of others. 

To begin with, I realized for the first time 
that the many references throughout the New 
Testament to Christ in you, and you in Christ, 
Christ our life, and abiding in Christ, are literal, 
actual, blessed fact, and not figures of speech. 
How the 15th chapter of John thrilled with new 
life as I read it now! And the 3rd of Ephe- 
sians, 14 to 21. And Galatians 2:20. And 
Philippians 1 :2L 

"What I mean is this. I had always known that 
Christ was my Saviour ; but I had looked upon 
Him as an external Saviour, one who did a sav- 
ing work for me from the outside, as it were; 
one who was ready to come close alongside and 
stay by me, helping me in all that I needed, 
giving me power and strength and salvation. 



236 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

But now I knew something better than that. At 
last I realized that Jesus Christ was actually 
and literally within me; and even more than 
that : that He had constituted Himself my whole 
life, my body, mind, soul, and spirit; my very 
self. Was not this better than having Him as a 
helper, or even than having Him as an external 
Saviour: to have Him, Jesus Christ, God the 
Son, as my own very life ? It meant that I need 
never ask Him to help me again, as though He 
were one and I another; but rather to simply 
do His work, His will, in me and with me and 
through me. My body was His, my mind His, 
my will His, my spirit His ; and not merely His, 
but literally a part of Him; all He asked me 
to say was, "I have been crucified with Christ, 
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth 
in me." Jesus Christ had constituted Himself 
my life, — not as a figure of speech, remember, 
but as a literal, actual fact, just as literal, just 
as actual, as the fact that a certain tree has 
constituted itself this desk on which my hand 
rests. For "In Him were all things created, 
. and in Him all things consist"; and 
we are a part of the body of Christ. 

Do you wonder that Paul could say with 
tingling joy and exultation, "To me to live is 
Christ"? He did not say, as I had mistakenly 
been supposing I must say, "To me to live is 
to be Christlike, ' ' nor, " To me to live is to have 
Christ's help," nor, "To me to live is to serve 
Christ. " No ; he plunged through and beyond 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 237 

all that in the bold, glorious, mysterious claim, 
"To me to live is Christ." I had never under- 
stood that verse before. Now, thanks to His 
gift of Himself, I am beginning to enter into a 
glimpse of its wonderful meaning. 

And that is how I know for myself that there 
is a life that wins : that it is the life of Jesus 
Christ ; and that it may be our life for the ask- 
ing, if we let Him — in absolute, unconditional 
surrender of ourselves to Him, our wills to His 
will, making Him the Master of our lives as 
well as our Saviour — enter in, occupy us, over- 
whelm us with Himself, yea, fill us with Himself 
"unto all the fulness of God." 

What has the result been? Was my experi- 
ence of last summer only a new intellectual con- 
ception of Christ, more interesting and satisfy- 
ing than before ? If it were only that, I should 
have little to tell you to-day. No; from that 
hour to this it has meant a revolutionized, 
fundamentally changed life, without and within. 
If any man be in Christ, you know, there is a 
new creation. 

Do not think that I am suggesting any mis- 
taken, unbalanced theory of perfection or sin- 
lessness in what I have been saying. The life 
that is Christ reveals to a man a score of sins 
and failures in himself where he only saw one 
Christ; and my life since the new experience 
of which I speak has recorded shamefully many 
failures and sins of such resistance. But, men, 
the fighting has been on higher levels than it 



238 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

ever used to be ; and the restorations after fail- 
ure are wonderfully blessed and complete, — 
made so, I think, by "keeping short accounts 
with God. " 

The three great lacks or needs of which I 
spoke at the opening have been miraculously 
and satisfyingly met. 

1. There has been a sustained fellowship with 
God utterly different from and infinitely better 
than anything I had ever known in all my life 
before. Christ has permitted no extended, 
dreary fluctuations or barren intervals in my 
spiritual life. 

2. There has been habitual victory over cer- 
tain besetting sins, — the old ones that used to 
throttle and wreck me. There is yet infinitely 
much ground to be occupied by Christ ; of that I 
am more painfully aware than I ever used to 
be ; and I know also that there is in my life, as 
Bishop Oldham said, "a vast area of undis- 
covered sin" that I have not let Him, as I must 
by ever completer surrender and obedience, even 
open my eyes to. But many of the old constant 
and sickening, soul-destroying failures are done 
away with by Him, and, as I have faith to be- 
lieve, forever. 

3. And, lastly, the spiritual results in service 
and fruit-bearing have given me such a sharing 
of the joy of Heaven as I never knew was pos- 
sible on earth. Six of my most intimate friends, 
most of them mature Christians, have had their 
lives completely revolutionized by Christ, laying 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 239 

hold on Him in this new way and receiving 
Him unto all the fulness of God. Two of these 
are a mother and a son, the son a young busi- 
ness man twenty-five years old. Another is the 
general manager of one of the large business 
houses in Philadelphia, with branch houses in 
San Francisco, Savannah, and Eichmond. 
Though consecrated and active as a Christian 
for years, he is now letting Christ work out 
through him in a new way into the lives of his 
many associates, and of his salesmen all over 
the country. A white-haired man of over sev- 
enty has found a peace in life and a joy in 
prayer that he had long ago given up as im- 
possible for him. Life fairly teems with the 
miracle-evidences of what Christ is willing and 
able to do for other lives through any one who 
just turns over the keys to His complete in- 
dwelling. 

Jesus Christ does not want to be our helper ; 
He wants to be our life. He does not want us 
to work for Him; He wants us to let Him do 
His work through us, using us just as we use a 
pencil to write with. 

When our life is not only Christ's, but Christ, 
our life will be a winning life : for He cannot 
fail. But remember, a life cannot win unless 
it serves. A prize fighter may win, but he does 
not serve. It is only a small part of life, and 
a wholly negative part, to overcome: we must 
bear fruit in service if we would really enter 
into life and the joy of the life that is Christ. 



240 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

If we are not bearing fruit, constantly and 
habitually, as a life-habit, we cannot ever do 
the lesser thing of habitual winning. 

And remember that Christ Himself is better 
than any of His blessings; better than the 
power, or the victory, or the service, that He 
grants. God creates the electricity that drives 
cars, and carries messages, and lights our 
houses; but God is better than electricity. 
Christ creates spiritual power; but Christ is 
better than that power. He is God's best; He 
is God; and we may have this best: we may 
have Christ, yielding to Him in such complete- 
ness and abandonment of self that there shall 
be nothing to us but Christ. Will you thus 
take Him? 



SEASON OF PRAYER AND DEVOTION. 

LED BY MR. TRUMBULL. 

" Abide in me," Christ said, "and I in you. 
As the branch cannot fear fruit of itself except 
it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye 
abide in me. If ye abide in me and my words 
abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it 
shall be done unto you." 

Mr. J. H. Jefferis, Philadelphia: — We hun- 
ger and thirst for this new life of Jesus Christ. 
We ask thee just now to baptize us with the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 241 

Holy Ghost, as we pray that this message which 
has been sent to us may be received with open 
and tender hearts. Oh, blessed Jesus Christ, the 
Saviour of the World, our Saviour, come just 
now and abide with us, guiding us, working in us 
to will and to do thy good pleasure. Oh, God, 
as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so 
our souls long after thee ; that all of self should 
die, and that Jesus Christ might live in us, the 
hope of glory. Oh, thou blessed Son of the liv- 
ing God, at this hour manifest thyself in every 
heart, as men of the church, as disciples of 
Jesus, as blood-bought men of the Kingdom. 
Come thou blessed Spirit, with thy almighty 
power, and fasten these words of life experience 
into every soul. Grant that we may go from this 
meeting just now with that hungering and 
thirsting that nothing shall satisfy but Jesus 
only. Amen. 

Me. Trumbull: — Our Master, wilt thou en- 
able each one of us to say with Paul, "I have 
been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I 
that live, but Christ liveth in me." 

Dr. Magill, St. Louis: — Our blessed Master, 
we are so thankful that thou didst come to im- 
part thy life to us who are dead in trespasses 
and sins. "We are glad of the teaching of the 
Word, and what it proposes to do for us. And 
we are glad of the testimony of thy children, of 
what they did accomplish in thee; that they 



242 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

could say they are crucified in Christ and the 
life they live is by faith in the Son of God. We 
are thankful for the clear cut testimony of thy 
servant who has spoken to us. We are thankful 
that our brethren have listened so attentively, 
and we believe the good Spirit will take the 
testimony of this brother and carry it home with 
a conviction for the good of each one of us. We 
pray that we may be delivered, that we may not 
be simply slaves, servants, goaded by a sense of 
duty. Grant we may be thy children, we may 
live, we may enjoy, we may have the conscious 
sense that the blessed Master is within us. 
Send this body of God's men as flaming heralds 
of a living God, who saves men, and help them to 
save others; and all the praise shall be to thy 
name forever. 

Mr. Trumbull: — "It has been manifested to 
His saints, to whom God was pleased to make 
known what is the riches of the glory of this 
mystery which is Christ in you. ' ' Paul 9 a prayer 
again is ours, ' ' according to my earnest expec- 
tation and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to 
shame, but that with all boldness Christ shall be 
magnified in my body. For to me to live is 
Christ. " 

Algernon G. Butler, Overbrook, Philadel- 
phia, Pa.: — I love to tell the story, because I 
know 'tis true. It satisfies my longing as noth- 
ing else can do. Take this One in this story and 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 243 

put Him in our lives ; may He work in us and 
through us and we will not want for a full ex- 
perience, an experience as rich and as broad 
and as glorious as the author, Jesus Christ. 

Mr. Trumbull: — "For this cause we bow our 
knees unto the Father, that He would grant 
you, according to the riches of His glory, that 
ye may be strengthened with His power through 
His Spirit in the inward man ; that Christ may 
dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end 
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may 
comprehend with all the saints the length and 
depth and height, and to know the love of Christ 
that passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled 
with all the fulness of God." 

Let us be sure that far more than anything 
that has been said here this morning will be 
granted unto all of us, far more than anything 
we find in the Bible will be granted unto us, be- 
cause we have God's word for it in this our 
closing prayer. "Now unto Him that is able to 
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask 
or think, according to the power that worketh 
in us," and that power is Jesus Christ, "unto 
Him be the glory in the church and in Christ 
Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. 
Amen." 



THE ERRAND OF 
AMERICA 



THE ERBAND OF AMERICA 

BY EEV. JAMES D. RASTKIST, D. D., WILKINSBURG, PA. 

MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

Mr. Holt : It was at Cincinnati that we first 
met under the arch that thrilled our hearts with 
its motto, "The Men of America for the Man 
of Galilee. ' ' When the Man of Galilee has given 
us the men of America, what is He going to do 
with us? I have an idea that that pertinent 
question will be answered in the address of our 
next speaker. We had an impressive assembly 
of present and former Moderators serving at 
the Communion Service yesterday; we are hon- 
ored today with the presence of a Moderator of 
another branch of our Presbyterian family, and 
it is with great pleasure that we are to listen to 
Dr. Eankin of the United Presbyterian Church, 
who will speak to us on The Errand of America. 

Dr. Eankin: In an eastern art collection is 
the statue of a woman standing with hand to her 
ear in listening attitude. It is named "What 
Does the West Wind Say?" It represents the 
awakened Orient listening in wonder to the story 
of Western civilization. Well may she listen, for 
the pen of Providence will write nothing more 

247 



248 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

thrilling. Its opening chapter points to the 
cradle of liberty rocked by the quivering storm 
of the world's hatred, and the closing one will 
unveil its throne or sepulchre. 

Xo thoughtful person will doubt that this 
land was raised up by God to play some im- 
portant part in the development and redemption 
of mankind. Its influence on the world will be 
one of the largest chapters the historian will 
write. 

Nations are like migratory birds, which at 
the changes of the seasons follow a leader to 
the cool, healthful lakes of the North or to the 
malarial swamps of the South. America will 
lead the world through the twentieth century. 

Half a century ago, Lyman Beecher asserted 
that "The world's hope and destiny depend on 
the United States.' ' Prof. Phelps* said: "As 
goes America, so goes the world in all that is 
vital to its moral welfare." Matthew Arnold 
said: •"America holds the future." Prof. Park 
said: "If America fails, the world will fail." 
Emerson said: "America is but another word 
for opportunity ; our whole history appears like 
the last effort of Divine Providence in behalf of 
the human race." Alexander Hamilton said: 
"It is ours to be either the grave in which the 
hopes of the world shall be entombed or the 
pillar of cloud which shall pilot the race onward 
to millennial glory." Prof. Hoppin, of Yale, 
said: "America Christianized means the world 
Christianized." Josiah Strong said: "If this 



ST. LOUIS CONTENTION 949 

generation is faithful to its trust. America will 
become God's right hand in His battle with 
the world's ignorance, oppression and sin." 
These are not the oratorical flights of the 
Fourth of July declaimer. but the deliberate 
testimony of the profoundest students of the 
time. They are based on our resources and the 
character of our people. Throw the searchlight 
upon these for an instant : 

Omitting Alaska and the Philippines, our 
territory exceeds the combined territory of 
China. Japan. Sweden. Norway. Belgium, Hol- 
land. Portugal. Greece. Turkey. Palestine. Swit- 
zerland. Denmark. Spain. Italy. Austria. Ger- 
many, France. England. Scotland and Ireland. 
Gladstone said: "The United States is the 
base for the largest continuous empire ever 
established by man. ' ' 

Our resources are in keeping with our area. 
Although their development is but in its in- 
fancy, we produce one-third of the agricultural. 
mining, manufactured and commercial output 
of the world. Our agricultural products have 
amounted to 87.000.000.000 annually for several 
years. This year it will be $8,000,000,000. 

At the opening of the nineteenth century we 
were too poor to be rated among the nations of 
the world. Our wealth has now reached $130.- 
000,000,000. "We have accumulated more in the 
last ten years than the whole race had saved 
from the Creation to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Link our area and resources, remem- 



250 THE PEESBYTEBIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

bering that we have but commenced their de- 
velopment, and you have the most colossal heri- 
tage ever given to man, and the germ of the 
most boundless wealth and power the world has 
ever known. 

The development of our resources is matched 
by the growth of our population. One hundred 
years ago we numbered 4,000,000, now 80,000,- 
000. Gladstone said: "By the close of the 
twentieth century the United States will have 
500,000,000 of people." At the present rate of 
increase we would number 713,000,000. Green, 
the English historian, said: "By the close of 
the twentieth century the nations of Europe will 
have shrunken into insignificance beside the 
United States.' ' Mr. Bryce, the British ambas- 
sador to this country, said: "By the close of 
the twentieth century the United States will 
contain one-half of civilized mankind, and Con- 
gress will be the scene of tremendous struggles 
in ages far distant, when the parliaments of 
Europe have shrunken into insignificance. ' ' 

These statements might be duplicated by 
many others showing that the greatest states- 
men and historians of our day are convinced 
that this country will lead and dominate the 
civilization of the future. 

While we will influence the whole world, three 
parts will receive the chief impress because 
they are in a formative state. They are like 
plastic clay, easily moulded, but they will 
harden and centuries cannot change them. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 251 

The First of These Fields Is the Southern 
Part of Our Own Continent. Few realize the 
greatness of South America. It furnishes the 
physical base for a larger population than does 
North America. Its largest political division, 
Brazil, is almost as large as the United States, 
including Alaska. An article in the Technical 
"World, two years ago, claimed that it will be 
the continent of the future. It says that it is 
the one country which surpasses the United 
States in area of accessible agricultural lands. 
It has some of the richest mines yet discovered, 
though the mining industry is in its infancy, 
and the mineral resources may outrank our own. 
Its forests are illimitable ; it is rich in precious 
woods; easy access to most of the country is 
obtained by its unequaled waterways. Al- 
though much of it lies in the Torrid Zone its 
altitude gives it a fine climate. This country 
is developing at a rate that shames our own. 

We will almost certainly determine the civili- 
zation of this vast continent. Our own land is 
fast filling. We are beginning to cry for room. 
Not only will the immigration from Europe 
and Asia soon turn from us to that land, but 
our own people are turning to that country in 
an ever increasing tide. American capital is 
rapidly absorbing the mines, plantations and 
other assets of Mexico, Central and South 
America. The stream bids soon to be a swell- 
ing flood. The opening of the Panama Canal 
will hasten it. The end is easily foreseen. 



252 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Europe, held back by the Monroe Doctrine, can- 
not gain a dominating influence in that land. 
The jealousies of the petty republics which con- 
stitute that continent will hasten a protective 
alliance with the great republic to the north. 
The capital of this country invested there will 
strengthen our influence. This is destiny enough 
for any nation. 

Let us pause a moment over this mighty pos- 
sibility. Our country will dominate this conti- 
nent. Do you know what that means ? It means 
that we will determine the character of more 
than one-half the human race. 

A country's productive power determines its 
ultimate population. After an exhaustive re- 
search, geographical experts tell us that Asia, 
Africa and Europe have 10,000,000 square miles 
of good agricultural land, and that this West- 
ern Continent has 11,000,000. Therefore, by 
the distribution made of productive power, Di- 
vine Providence has decreed that the Western 
Continent shall have a population one-tenth 
larger than Europe, Asia and Africa combined. 
Prof. Guyot says that this continent can and 
will support a population of 2,000,000,000. By 
Divine foreordination, more than one-half the 
human race will live on the Western Continent, 
and the United States will determine their char- 
acter. Our character and ideals are the mould 
in which this great future will take shape. What 
we are, politically, intellectually, religiously, 
will determine what it will be. The building of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 253 

the Panama Canal is hastening that time. It 
was a thrilling moment when Henry Clay, stand- 
ing on the summit of the Alleghanies, placed his 
hand to his ear and exclaimed: "I hear the 
tramp of coming millions." He listened to the 
tramp of millions, we to the tramp of billions. 
It is ours to shape this Western Continent, 
which is to be the mould of half the population 
of the globe. This is a part of the Errand of 
America, and should stir the American Church 
as would a voice from the White Throne where 
the Eternal dwells. 

But our Errand is not to this Continent alone, 
but to the world. The crisis in the Orient is 
thrilling. Those ancient peoples have experi- 
enced a marvelous awakening.- They have seen 
the falseness of their religions and the failure 
of their civilization, and are reaching hungry 
hands for our civilization, our schools, our po- 
litical methods. More or less, they are sepa- 
rated from European nations by jealousy and 
fear of absorption. But all look to America 
without these feelings, which gives her an influ- 
ence greater than any other. The question at 
once forces itself forward: "What kind of a 
civilization are we giving to them?" We are 
sending our missionaries with a pure gospel, 
but this is not our only — our chief — gift. We 
are touching them in a thousand ways. Thou- 
sands of their people are visiting our land; 
thousands of their brightest young men are 
being educated in our great colleges and uni- 



254 THE PKESBYTEBlAtt BKOTHEBHOOB 



versities. Our ships visit their lands ; our fleet 
encircles the globe; our diplomats represent 
our government at their courts ; our consuls live 
in all their great cities. These are the chan- 
nels through which our mightiest impact is 
made. Our diplomats, our traders, our sailors, 
our schools, are missionaries. What kind of a 
gospel are they preaching? A stream cannot 
rise higher than its source. Let us be honest 
with ourselves. How much of our civilization 
is such as Christ taught? How much of it is 
sheer Materialism? Are these missionaries 
carrying a pure Christianity, a regenerating 
force, or are we sending a materialism? Let 
us not deceive ourselves. Battleships preach 
more eloquently than missionaries, and to larger 
audiences. Commerce wins a thousand converts 
where the Church gets one. It is futile for us 
to hope that by a little band of individuals sent 
over the world we can preach the gospel of 
peace if in all our organized life we are preach- 
ing the gospel of strife, of selfishness, and of 
distrust. It is vain to hope that we can send 
to the world the message of God's love by a 
few individuals who represent the Church, if 
by the voices of commerce and diplomacy and 
secular education we are preaching to those 
same people a gospel of hate, deceit, selfishness 
and unbelief. Not by a few voices, but by the 
impact of our whole national activity, we must 
commend to all mankind the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 255 

Another fact must not be overlooked. It has 
been our traditional policy to confine our polit- 
ical activities to this continent. The Monroe 
Doctrine was a two-edged sword. It not only 
meant that Europe must keep hands off this 
continent, but that we would keep hands off 
other continents. After pleading and protest- 
ing until patience had become a sin, we took 
up arms in behalf of a few trampled blacks off 
our southeastern coast, and in a day, unthought 
of, unwanted, an island empire on the threshold 
of Asia was thrust upon us. In spite of our- 
selves, we have been compelled to plant our 
flag and our institutions on the threshold of 
Asia, the storm center of the twentieth century. 
We will necessarily be an actor in the mighty 
movements which Providence has scheduled for 
the Orient in the near future. 

These, and facts like them, are a hint of the 
.Errand of America. The old philosopher said 
that if he could get a lever long enough, and 
somewhere in space a fulcrum, he could lift the 
world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the lever 
and America is the fulcrum. To win America 
for Christ, and make Christian the influence 
which goes out therefrom to dominate the 
world, is one of the most colossal and far-reach- 
ing missions committed to the Church in all its 
God-given history. 

A few citadels loom large, which must be 
captured by the Church, if America becomes a 
dominating Christian force. 



256 THE PBESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

I. The Immigrant. 

They are coming at the rate of a million a 
year. Such an inflow of foreign people must 
profoundly affect our national character. They 
are an element of racial strength. A mixture of 
races produces a higher type of character. A 
composite picture in photography is made by 
bringing a number of faces before the camera 
for an instant, but not long enough to make a 
perfect picture. In this way the strongest fea- 
tures of each are caught and the weakest ones 
dropped out, thus forming a face made up of 
the strongest features of all. Something like 
this occurs in a mixture of races. The strongest 
characteristics of each are preserved and the 
weaker ones lost, thus forming a stronger race 
than any of its constituent elements. To this 
tendency, Mr. Darwin attributed the marvelous 
progress and accomplishments of the American 
people. Herbert Spencer predicted that from 
this cause would come the most powerful type 
of man the world has known. If this be true, 
it reveals another argument for the christian- 
izing of this people. What is the influence of 
immigration upon our national life? Fifty 
years ago, ninety-nine per cent of our immi- 
grants came from northwestern Europe. 
Twenty-five years ago, seventy-five per cent 
came from that section. To-day only twenty- 
five per cent comes from those countries, while 
seventy-five per cent are furnished by Asia and 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 257 

the countries of southeastern Europe. Italy, 
Austria, Poland, Eussia, now furnish the large 
proportion. You have but to recall the differ- 
ence to realize the new aspect of this problem. 
Many of these are material for noble citizen- 
ship; many are favorable to our institutions; 
but it is useless to ignore the fact that most of 
them are of a totally different class from those 
who formerly came. How shall these be made 
an element of strength instead of weakness? A 
part of the problem belongs to the statesman, 
but he will sadly fail without the Church. The 
Gospel is the only solvent which can fuse them 
into a Christian citizenship. Untouched by 
the healing hand of Christ, they are a menace to 
our Christian institutions. Our schools will 
help to solve the problem, but they are not suffi- 
cient. The education of the head does not take 
corruption out of the heart. I marvel that we 
have been so slow in comprehending our oppor- 
tunity and responsibility. 

II. The Fkeedman. 

I approach this question with extreme hesita- 
tion. It can scarcely be discussed without 
awakening discord. It is one of the most diffi- 
cult questions that any nation ever faced. Too 
many overlook the real point of difficulty — the 
difference in the white and black races. The 
Civil War did not settle, but created, the Negro 
problem. It destroyed slavery as a form of 



258 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

subordination, but did not change the thickness 
of a shadow the Southern idea, imbedded in 
its civilization, that the black race was intended 
by the Creator to be the subordinate of the 
white race. Force cannot destroy an idea. It- 
destroyed slavery as a form of subordination, 
but in every Southern breast, strong as ever, 
rests the profound conviction that some new 
form of subordination must be substituted. 
There would be no difficulty if the two races 
could live on the old basis of master and slave, 
but to force the political equality which has 
been given to the negro, or to reach after the 
social equality which follows the political as 
shadow follows substance, is to enkindle a con- 
flagration of hate in the breast of every white 
man. Lincoln foresaw the problem which eman- 
cipation would bring, and asked Congress to 
appropriate $1,000,000,000 to deport the freed- 
men to Liberia, where they might establish a 
negro nation. He said: "There is a physical 
difference between the races which will forever 
forbid them living together on terms of political 
and social equality." Prof. Kelly Miller, next 
to Booker Washington their greatest educator, 
says : "It is impossible to conceive of two races 
occupying the same area, speaking the same 
language, enjoying the sarae civil and political 
privileges, without ultimately fusing. " These 
two men have placed the Negro problem square- 
ly before us. On the one hand is a physical 
difference which has begotten an intolerance to 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 259 

social and political equality, which blazes into 
a conflagration at any attempt of the black race 
to secure this boon. On the other hand is the 
black race, with the same ambitions and aspira- 
tions as the white race, and to whom the law 
has given political equality. 

This difference is increased by the illiteracy 
of the negro, and is intensified by the rapid in- 
crease of the colored people. During the last 
century they increased from 1,000,000 to 9,000,- 
000, and the first decade of this century has 
added another million. Some claim that by the 
close of this century they will number 60,000,- 
000, a figure that is probably too high. 

Education is a step in the solution of the 
problem, but it will not solve it. Their illiteracy 
is a menace, but its removal will not touch the 
race difference, which is the real difficulty. 

It is coming to be more and more understood 
that industrial education is the need of the 
negro. He is long to be a laborer, and the 
more efficient he is, the better for him. But it 
will intensify the overmastering issue, for it is 
fitting him to be a rival of the white man instead 
of a servant, the very thing the white man will 
not endure. This is the condition that faces us. 
On the one hand is the burning intolerance of 
equality on the part of the white race; over 
against this is the black race, with that un- 
quenchable desire for equality which lives in 
every human breast, being fitted to compete 
with the white man and if necessary wrest 



260 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

from him by force his supposed rights. We are 
building up a nation inside of a nation of two 
races, irreconcilably different. 

I have a theory, but it is personal, and there- 
fore of little interest to others. The negroes 
are drifting south, and are driving out the white 
man. Why may this not continue until the 
southern part of this country will be negro, or, 
better still, why may they not drift across the 
border into Mexico and South America, whose 
dark-skinned people have not the same repug- 
nance to amalgamation that the Anglo-Saxons 
have? Whether this assist in the solution or 
not, we have before us one of the most tremen- 
dous problems ever laid upon any nation. The 
only final solution is a force that will soften 
prejudice and inspire a broad spirit of charity 
and in some measure restrain race jealousy. It 
is one of the loudest calls ever made upon the 
Church. 

II. The third citadel to be taken if America 
remains a Christian power and gives a Chris- 
tian influence to the world, is the City. 

Unquestionably, this is one of the most crit- 
ical points in this struggle. The relative growth 
of cities is the most striking fact in the prog- 
ress of modern civilization. One hundred years 
ago there were only six cities in America over 
8,000 ; now there are 600. In 1790 one-thirtieth 
of our population lived in cities ; now one-third. 
In fifteen states more than one-half, and in 
eight states two-thirds of the population is in 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 261 

the cities. Our agricultural states are decreas- 
ing in population and the towns are rapidly 
swelling. One-half of our counties and two- 
thirds of our small towns have decreased in the 
last few years. Ere long more than one-half of 
our population will live in the cities. The cur- 
rent has set in and is growing swifter every 
decade. 

The city gives character to the whole country. 
Here are massed the forces that rule — the edu- 
cational, social, political, financial powers. The 
city is the nerve center from which the whole 
body is controlled; the heart that sends the 
rich or poisoned blood through the arteries of 
the nation. From them will go forth an influ- 
ence for weal or woe, for good or evil, for plac- 
ing the scepter in the clutch of Satan or the 
Scarred Hand, such as will come from no other 
place. The country will be what the towns are. 
This makes their character vastly important. 
What a strange mass of heterogeneous popula- 
tion is in our great cities ! What alien faiths 
and no faiths struggle for standing room! 
Here are the strong and the prosperous, the 
hungry and the discontented, the saint and the 
criminal. Here are the palace and the hovel, 
the happy and the discontented. Here the press 
is the strongest, here the strongest men reside. 
The city grows wicked in geometrical ratio as 
it increases in size. A city four times as large 
as another is sixteen times as bad. Cities are 
hotbeds of intemperance and crime. The pol- 



262 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

itics of our cities is deplorable. Corruption 
runs riot. The saloon is defiant. The broken 
fragments of the Sabbath are being trampled 
under the feet of greed and pleasure. An angel 
who had never visited the earth asked another 
whose mission often called him hither, to guide 
him through space, that for himself he might 
behold the world for which the Son of God had 
died. On the way his mind was filled with glad 
anticipations of the fair scenes upon which he 
was soon to gaze. At length they paused to 
rest, and it chanced that they stopped just 
above Cape Trafalgar when the British fleet 
under Lord Nelson was engaged in deadly con- 
flict with the allied navies of France and Spain. 
Long the angel watched with horror the bloody 
scene, then, turning to his companion, said: "I 
asked you to take me to earth, but you have 
brought me to hell." "Oh, no," said his guide, 
"they do not thus in hell." There are many 
whose minds would be filled with as sad amaze- 
ment if, when dark night has settled down on 
our great cities, some angelic messenger should 
lead them forth to gaze on scenes nightly en- 
acted there. Passing from the gilded palaces 
of sin that stand on the best avenues to the dens 
of iniquity that crowd the alleys, the cry would 
be forced from their white lips, "Surely this is 
hell." On the other hand, the forces for good 
are massed here. Church rescue missions, phil- 
anthropic institutions, with bare arms, are fight- 
ing for their control. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 263 

Into these cities two streams are flowing. One 
comes from foreign lands. We have already 
seen its character. They congregate in certain 
parts and make them a menace. Here is an 
open door for the Church. 

The second stream comes from our country 
homes. A teeming multitude of young people 
constantly pours into the city. The most sol- 
emn time that ever comes to a young person is 
when, leaving the sheltered home of childhood, 
he goes to the city to fight life's battles alone. 
Much of the appalling waste of young life dates 
to this time. They are dazed and bewildered 
by the rush around them. They find their ways 
into our stores, offices and manufactories, or go 
to swell the great army of the unemployed. 
They crave companionship, but walk the streets 
as though in a desert place. No one speaks to 
them. In the church at home all knew them; 
now no one notices the stranger. He is to be 
pitied and feared who can look, unmoved, upon 
the tide of young life which, every evening, is 
poured from store, office and manufactory upon 
our streets. Temptations never dreamed of 
press upon them. This is the climax of peril 
and opportunity. If the Church is strong, ac- 
tive, awake, these may be captured by Christ, 
Alas ! thousands are caught in the downward 
drift. Here is the very pathos of Home Mis- 
sions. 

If America is to be won for Christ, the cities 
must be saved. The Church should throw itself 



264 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BEOTHEKHOOD 

eagerly, systematically, persistently into their 
political and social regeneration. There should 
be such organization and co-operation between 
the churches that every part of our great cities 
could be reached at once. Oh, that the Church 
could hear the trumpet call echoing and re- 
echoing through our great cities ! 

I believe in the land in which we live ; I be- 
lieve that the heart of the people is still un- 
tainted; I believe in the Church of God. It 
cannot be that the world is to roll on in the 
old recurring circles of light and darkness. It 
cannot be that the ruins of Thebes and Babylon, 
Palmyra and Eome, shall find their history re- 
peated in America. I please myself with bright- 
er visions. The Gospel of the Son of God has 
found its way into the blight of the world and 
is changing all. Our progress is steadily up- 
ward. The vision of the Seer of Patmos will be 
realized and the song of brotherhood will drown 
the wail of discord that rises from our indus- 
trial centers, and amid the shout of angels 
the Holy City shall descend from God out of 
heaven. 

IV. The fourth citadel which must be cap- 
tured if America is held for Christ and its influ- 
e nee on the world be Christian, is the Material 
Machinery and Resources of our land. 

When, seventy-five years ago, Nature bowed 
her neck to the yoke which man's inventive 
genius had discovered, a great forward leap 
was made in material development. Steam and 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 265 

electricity, twin steeds, harnessed by man, 
opened a new era. They annihilated time and 
space. With threads of steel they knit state to 
state and with the black shuttles of commerce 
wove continents. Through their assistance, 
earth's treasure houses have been unlocked, 
methods of production have been revolutionized 
and their capacity increased almost beyond com- 
putation. They have given us unparalleled 
wealth. They have placed wonderful machinery 
in our hands for reaching and influencing our 
fellowmen. 

The supreme problem before the American 
Church is to secure the consecration of this 
machinery of modern civilization. New and 
potent instruments have been placed in our 
hands, but whether they will be tools to build 
the City of God, or weapons for its destruction, 
will depend upon the character of those who 
hold them. They are as potent for evil as for 
good. Let me illustrate my meaning. Science 
has discovered a method of producing alcohol, 
an agent almost indispensable in the arts, but 
it has given birth to the Drink Traffic — the 
overshadowing curse of modern civilization. 

Man's inventive genius has harnessed steam 
and electricity to machinery. The good cannot 
be estimated. It has made a new world, deliv- 
ered man from drudgery, filled his home with 
comforts. To these agents must be attributed 
the greater part of the material civilization of 
our day. They have given us comforts beyond 



266 THE PRESBYTERIAN BKOTHERHOOD 

the wildest dreams of our grandparents, and 
wealth that is beyond the power of man to 
compute. 

On the other hand, by revolutionizing the 
methods of production and transportation, by 
making possible vast combinations of capital, 
by changing our country from an agricultural 
to a commercial and manufacturing power, they 
have made possible the vast accumulation of 
wealth in a few hands, have brought conflict 
between labor and capital, and are accountable 
for the greater part of our Sabbath desecration. 
They have produced the magic growth of cities. 

It is the unchangeable verdict of history that 
wealth and luxury have led to the ruin of almost 
every great nation of the past. They lead to 
avarice and place in the hands of a few unscru- 
pulous men the power to debauch domestic and 
political life. 

This is enough to suggest the power for good 
or evil which inheres in the wealth and machin- 
ery which God has given to us. God has placed 
tremendous weapons in our hands for the sal- 
vation of the world, and yet they can be turned 
to the world's destruction. If the Gospel shall 
control this machinery, it is impossible to tell 
to what millennial heights the race may come 
in this century. The most enthusiastic seer can 
but dimly see the heights to which we may come. 
But if this machinery is not controlled by spir- 
itual forces, it will carry us to luxury, worldli- 
ness, social dissension — the swift forerunners of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 267 

national decay. The mere fact that a man lives 
in a modern house and reads by electricity does 
not make him a better citizen or more helpful 
to his fellowmen. It is vastly better, instead 
of riding in a stage coach fifty miles a day, as 
our grandparents did, to ride in a Pullman car 
fifty miles an hour — provided your errand is 
good. It is very convenient to press a button 
and flood your home with electric light — unless 
you intend to do something wrong by the light. 
Then it were better that you were back to the 
"tallow dip." It is a great thing to call up 
"Central" and talk with a customer one thou- 
sand miles away, but if you intend to defraud 
him, it were better that you had to travel by ox 
cart. The vital thing is not the speed with 
which you travel, but the errand on which you 
go; not the brightness of your home, but the 
thing you do in the light ; not the distance you 
talk, but what you say. It is what we are, not 
the machine that multiplies our power, that 
counts for good or ill. The telegraph, the tele- 
phone, the Twentieth Century Limited, the 
greyhounds of the Atlantic, the colossal wealth 
piled up in bank and mine, will not save Amer- 
ica and make her a redeeming power in the 
world unless they are controlled by the spirit 
of Christ, What avails it to yoke steam to our 
chariot if Black Care still sits behind the 
driver? What avails it to wing our thoughts 
with lightning, if they are no happier, no kinder 
than before? The spiritual must control the 



268 THE PRESBYTERIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

material. By the gift of religion the Church 
must prepare men for the gifts of science. They 
tell us that the school will do this. It will not. 
Education enlightens, but it does not renew 
human nature. Education fits a man to accom- 
plish more, but does not determine whether that 
"more" shall be a blessing or a curse. It mul- 
tiplies the man, but does not regulate his pas- 
sions or control his moral nature. The crum- 
bling marbles of the Parthenon, looking down 
on the degraded descendants of Plato and Soph- 
ocles; the guillotine, following close upon the 
age of Louis XIV, speak with no uncertain voice 
of the peril of divorcing culture from religion. 

I am not decrying this material splendor ; I 
glory in it. But I want it placed in the hand of 
a spiritual power. I am pleading for the devel- 
opment of a spiritual force that will make this 
machinery what God intended it to be — the 
chariot in which He will ride forth to the con- 
quest of the world. Social conditions will never 
be right until men are right. Change the atoms 
and you change the mass. Regenerate the citi- 
zen and you save the state. The soul of reform 
is the reform of the soul. The religion of Jesus 
is the only power that can do this. The Church 
is the only power that can make this vast ma- 
chinery a power for good. 

The greatest peril that faces America today 
is that money is becoming supreme and blinding 
us to the higher things of life. We are driving 
after it at racing speed. There is a fever in 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 269 

our veins — the fever of wealth. We drive under 
high pressure; we quicken the oar stroke to a 
continuous rush ; we travel as far in an hour as 
our fathers did in a day; we talk over wires; 
we send our messages by lightning and grumble 
because we cannot travel by lightning and take 
the chance of breathing on the way. Oh, that 
the Gospel could ride forth on this rushing 
machinery ! 

I have kept you long and have given only a 
glimpse of the Errand of the American Church. 
Surely, in such a battle the armies of the Lord 
Jesus should stand in unbroken ranks and not 
waste their resources in childish skirmishing 
with each other. In such an hour jealousy be- 
tween denominations is treason to our common 
Lord. That denominationalism has had a mis- 
sion, few will doubt. To each great historic 
denomination has been entrusted a special truth 
or a special way of presenting truth, and until 
that truth has been assimilated by the universal 
truth, that work may not have been completed. 
But why should a minor difference separate 
those who are one in spirit, purpose and alle- 
giance to Christ ? 

A new spirit is abroad. This convention, 
composed of the representatives of various de- 
nominations, is one of its witnesses. We are 
minimizing our differences and exalting our 
agreements. The current of Church life is hur- 
rying on to the great ocean of need, leaving the 
temporary things that so long separated us as 



270 THE PRESBYTERIAN BKOTHERHOOD 

debris on the scarred hills, marking the height 
of the flood tide of controversy. Many denomi- 
nations have united, and more will. Where or- 
ganic union cannot be reached, there will be a 
closer federation. The formation of the Fed- 
eral Council of Churches of Christ in America 
has been pronounced by an illustrious English- 
man to be the greatest gift America has yet 
made to the world. In that federation are gath- 
ered the thirty-four leading Protestant denomi- 
nations, with a membership of 19,000,000 and a 
following of 40,000,000. It is difficult to exag- 
gerate the importance and promise of this Coun- 
cil. It stands for the greatest effort towards 
the unity of Christendom which the world has 
seen since it first stood divided against itself. 
Think of the value of its pronouncements be- 
cause it represents a united Church. A united 
Church is mighty. Think of the American Bible 
Society, which has existed for nearly a century, 
and distributed 82,000,000 copies of the Scrip- 
tures ; the American Tract Society, whose par- 
ish is the world, which sends out literature in 
174 languages; the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation and the Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation, mighty organizations, doing what no 
denomination could do, because they are uniting 
all denominations in effort. Think of the Young 
People's Society of Christian Endeavor and 
the Student Volunteer Movement, voices pro- 
claiming that in union there is strength. These 
are mighty because they are not denominational 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 271 

but Christian. I hope and pray for the coming 
of a time when all good men and women who 
worship in spirit and in truth shall be gathered 
into a mighty federation, Protestant and Catho- 
lic, Aryan and Semitic, a fellowship that shall 
include all who bravely live, a federation that 
shall include all who love for the sake of all who 
suffer. 

We must economize our resources and our 
energies. Our divisions and overlappings and 
petty rivalries, if there be such, are a sinful 
waste of the Lord's money. In this twentieth 
century, with the world driving on the rocks, it 
is time to drop our minor differences and unite 
in one mighty host. The Scriptures point the 
way to the Church's triumph, when they tell us 
that "One shall chase a thousand and two put 
ten thousand to flight." Two will accomplish 
five times as much working together as working 
separately. There is mighty esprit in a large 
force. The charge of a well disciplined army is 
incalculably more than the skirmishing of the 
same number of independent fighters. Forces 
which, acting alone, are impotent, are resistless 
when united. A twisted rope has more strength 
than the sum of its strands. The whole is 
greater than the sum of its parts. Schiller said : 
"Divide the thunder into single tones, and it 
becomes a lullaby for children ; but send it forth 
in one quick peal, and the royal sound will shake 
the heavens." 



THE FRUITS OF THE 
TREE 



THE FEUITS OF THE TREE. 

BY HOX. WILLIAM JENNINGS BBYAN, LINCOLN, NEB. 

Ladies axd Gentlemen : — It was ray privilege 
to attend the first meeting of the National 
Brotherhood of the Presbyterian Church. It 
was organized under circumstances that gave 
every assurance of its growth and growing 
work. I am glad that I can be here at this time 
to participate in this returning gathering. This 
is one regiment, so to speak, or if that is not a 
large enough term, one division, of the Christian 
army ; and I have been impressed during the last 
few years with the length and strength of the 
tie that binds Christians together. I had been 
joining for many years in the singing of the 
song, 

" Blest be the tie that binds 
Our hearts in Christian love. 

but I never appreciated that song before as I 
did in the southern extremity of Japan, when I 
heard it sung one day in a Christian meeting, 
the words being in the Japanese language. Then 
I began to think of the ties that bind us together. 
There is the family tie, the oldest and the one 
most quickly recognized. Then there was the 

275 



2?6 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

tribal tie ; and we have the national tie, the race 
tie, the language tie. These bring together 
sometimes millions; but I was impressed, as I 
heard this song, sung by people of another 
shore, of another language and another nation, 
that the longest and the strongest tie of all the 
ties, is the tie that binds our hearts in Christian 
love. 

I am pleased to meet tonight with those of 
this branch of the Christian Church who are 
bound together by that tie, and are here that 
they may assist as far as they can in the exten- 
sion of that tie to all the world, and to the 
strengthening of it everywhere. 

Last June it was my privilege to attend the 
World's Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, 
Scotland, a conference at which were gathered 
together some eleven hundred delegates repre- 
senting every Christian country on the globe, 
and the leading missionary fields. I enjoyed 
participation in that conference, which I feel I 
can say without exaggeration was, in some re- 
spects at least, the most important religious 
gathering that has assembled on the earth since 
the beginning of the Christian era. At that 
meeting we were discussing one branch of Chris- 
tian work ; and when I was invited to speak at 
this time, looking over the subjects that might 
be selected, I thought that I could not render a 
greater service than present here some thoughts 
upon the subject which I presented there. I 
have been asked to preface what I shall say un- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 377 

der the subject, "The Fruits of the Tree," by 
making brief reference to the work in the For- 
eign Mission field, and to some of the objections 
that have been raised to it. As this is entirely 
in harmony with the address that I desire to 
deliver, I shall follow the requests. 

A member of the church from the time I was 
fourteen, I have been interested in all branches 
of the Church's work, and in the missionary 
work as well as in other forms. I had heard 
returning missionaries tell of their experiences 
in the non-Christian world, but I was never im- 
pressed by the missionary work as I was when 
I went among the missionaries, and had a chance 
to see those who represent the Christian 
churches in the missionary field, and those 
among whom they are at work. 

I had heard objections made to the foreign 
missionary work, and I shall just suggest a 
few of them with the answers that I would give 
from my own observations. I have heard it 
said that we cannot spare work or money to 
send abroad, when there is so much work to do 
at home. I know there is much to do at home, 
but I am persuaded that the money sent abroad 
is not subtracted from the total that would be 
given if there were no contributions to Foreign 
Missions. I am satisfied that if there were no 
gifts to the world outside, the gifts at home 
would be smaller than they are. I am satisfied 
that giving to Missions abroad is a scattering 
that increaseth, and that the interest that is 



278 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

aroused by our giving to those to whom the 
Gospel has not been brought, makes us even 
more anxious to carry the Gospel to those who 
live under our flag. In fact, I believe that the 
Church would be very much weaker than it is 
if it could be indifferent to the call that comes 
from without ; and that if the Church could hear 
and not heed the cry that comes up from other 
lands, it would soon die of dry rot at home. 

I remember when I was a boy hearing a story 
told of two men who had traveled on the Alps 
and one finally sank down exhausted and ready 
to die. The other was strong enough to go fur- 
ther, but instead of leaving his companion he 
remained with him and rubbed him and worked 
with him trying to keep him alive. As the 
story goes, the very effort that he put forth to 
save the life of his companion, kept him alive 
until both were rescued. I am convinced that 
the effort that is put forth to help those who 
live in heathen lands has its reflex action, and 
makes the Church stronger for the work at 
home. 

I have heard it said that it is presumptuous 
for us to try to help others when we are so 
imperfect ourselves, and I recognize that there 
is great plausibility in that argument. But I 
know not how to judge groups except to apply 
to them the rules that apply to individuals ; and 
if we will just apply that rule to the individual, 
if the individual will refrain from efforts to 
make others better until he himself is perfect, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 279 

he can postpone, for this life at least, any active 
good to others. The Bible does not say, "Let 
the perfect help the imperfect. ' ' It says, ' l Let 
the strong help the weak." So, my friends, I 
believe that our nation cannot wait until there is 
nothing to do at home before it tries to do good 
abroad. We will never reach the time when 
there is nothing to do at home. If it were pos- 
sible for us to secure today by united effort the 
removal of every abuse, the remedying of every 
evil, the righting of every wrong, it would not 
mean that tomorrow we would be ideal; for 
when we have done some great good, when we 
have accomplished some great work, we rise 
upon that and can see further, and new work 
is brought within the range of our vision. So, 
if this nation is going to help at all, it must 
help before perfection is reached at home. 

I glory in the help that this nation is render- 
ing. Travel through the Orient and you will 
find an unbroken chain of centers of civilization 
established by American money. You will find 
schools and colleges and churches where men 
and women from the United States are at work, 
the leaven that is to leaven the entire lump. 
When I followed these places where civilization 
has been planted, when I had followed this chain 
for some six thousand miles, I felt that if our na- 
tion could boast that the sun never sets on its 
possessions, it has a prouder boast that the sun 
never sets upon American philanthropy. (Ap- 
plause.) And the sun never goes down on one 



280 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

of these centers of ' civilization but it rises on 
another, and the boundaries of these centers are 
increasing; after a while they will meet, and 
when the Orient is redeemed our nation will 
deserve the largest share of the credit. 

I have heard it said that the progress of our 
missionaries is slow, that but few in each place 
are converted. "We may admit that the prog- 
ress is not as rapid as we would like, but where 
is progress as rapid as we would like? He must 
have little zeal whose zeal does not outrun his 
accomplishments, and he must have little inter- 
est in the salvation of the world who is not im- 
patient at the slow progress of our religion. 
But, my friends, if we are inclined to be im- 
patient because the converts are not more nu- 
merous ; if we are impatient because the prog- 
ress of the Church is not more rapid in foreign 
lands, let us learn patience with our mission- 
aries by considering the situation at home. "We 
are not making as rapid progress in the United 
States as we would like. In this country more 
than half the adult males do not attend church. 
In this country, where we see on every hand the 
evidences of the blessings of Christianity, more 
than half the men do not lend their influence to 
the church by their presence. Here, where all 
the influences tend to bring people into the 
church, we find a large number outside. Let us 
be patient, then, with those who work in for- 
eign fields ; for we must remember that the con- 
vert abroad must often suffer social ostracism, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 281 

and be discredited by his family and often by 
his community. 

I have heard it said that our missionaries 
may make mistakes and that their mistakes may 
get us into trouble. I am not disposed to deny 
anything that can be established so easily as the 
statement that missionaries may make mistakes. 
My only regret is that we have not a group of 
people who do not make mistakes upon whom 
we might call for missionary work; but I am 
afraid that if we had such a group, the pressure 
upon them for work at home would be so large 
that we could not send them all away. (Ap- 
plause.) Of course, our missionaries will make 
mistakes. They are simply human beings and 
to err is human, and it is possible that they may 
even by their mistakes get us into diplomatic 
difficulties occasionally. But, my friends, I think 
that those who go abroad to make money are a 
thousand times more apt to get us into trouble 
than those who go to spend money abroad for 
their people. Our navy is not nearly so apt to 
be needed to protect people who go because they 
love their God and their fellowmen, as it is to 
protect those who go to exchange their courage, 
and their audacity, and sometimes their impu- 
dence, for foreign cash. (Applause.) 

I think that commerce is more likely to get us 
into trouble than religion. I think religion is 
more apt to make us real friends throughout the 
world than trade is ; and when I say that I be- 
lieve in trade and regard it both as an instru- 



282 THE PKESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

ment in behalf of peace and in behalf of civili- 
zation. But my observation is, that people from 
other lands know when people come from a pure 
motive, a high motive, or a pecuniary one, and 
they are human enough to love more those who 
love them, than those who come simply from 
love of the money that can be made. 

I have heard it said, as an excuse for not send- 
ing missionaries into heathen lands, that God is 
too merciful to punish in the next world those 
who have not had a chance to hear His gospel in 
this world, and that has even been carried a 
step further, and some have argued that as the 
heathen are safe now if they do not hear, and 
as they take some chances if they hear and re- 
ject it, it may be a kindness to them not to in- 
jure their future by not preaching the gospel to 
them now. That is a complacent philosophy and 
comforting to a man to keep in his pocket, 
money which he should send abroad. 

I shall not assume to sit in judgment on God's 
plan. I do not feel wise enough to attempt to 
announce, without possibility of mistake, how 
God may deal in the next world with those who 
have not heard of Christ in this ; but I have seen 
the heathen in this life, and I believe we owe it 
to them as a Christian duty to carry the Chris- 
tian conception of life unto them that they may 
have the benefit of it on earth, regardless of 
what the future may have for them. (Ap- 
plause.) There may be room for conflicting 
opinion when we discuss theories and theology, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 283 

but there can be no room for difference of opin- 
ion when we have seen the people blessed by 
Christianity and the people who know it not. 
It was this consideration of the needs of those 
among whom our missionaries go, that led me to 
the conclusion that if we could not find preach- 
ers to send abroad to preach the gospel to the 
heathen, if we could not send teachers to teach 
the heathen, if we could not find medical mis- 
sionaries to send to toil in the name of the Mas- 
ter, it would be well worth while to send Chris- 
tians among them to live among them, and 
show how Christ can convert man's life into 
a living spring that pours out constantly that 
which refreshes and invigorates. 

You are sometimes told that while our re- 
ligion may be good for us, their religions are 
better for them. I would have no faith in our 
religion if I thought there was a spot of earth 
where it might not be at home, or one human 
heart that it could not reach and purify. (Ap- 
plause.) If our religion is a religion at all, if 
our religion has back of it a divine origin, and 
under it a divine foundation, it must be good 
in all places, at all times and everywhere. 

Crossing the ocean, in anticipation of the ses- 
sions of the Conference, I was trying to arrange 
my thoughts so as to present a subject for the 
consideration of those assembled ; a subject that 
would embody the presentation of Christianity 
in life; for I have long since reached the con- 
clusion that a religion that is not shown in a 



284 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

life does not deserve the name of religion, and 
that the life is the best way and about the only 
way of manifesting a religion to others. So I 
tried to group together the things that most 
appear in a Christian life, and when I had re- 
duced them in number to the least possible num- 
ber, I found that I could not make them less 
than twelve without leaving out some that it 
seemed to me could not be omitted. Then I took 
my Concordance, and I thought I would run 
through the Bible and see if twelve would be an 
appropriate number ; and I looked at every ref- 
erence from the beginning to the end, and I 
found twelve mentioned many times. The Twelve 
Tribes, the Twelve Apostles, many, many refer- 
ences to the number; but I continued to read 
until I reached the last reference in the last 
chapter of Eevelation, and there I read that the 
Tree of Life bore twelve manner of fruit and 
brought forth its fruit twelve times a year, and 
I thought the number twelve was not an inap- 
propriate number to use, if I would speak of 
"The Fruits of the Tree." 

Speaking of the fruits of the tree, I am apply- 
ing Christ's test to life, for it was Christ Him- 
self who, following in this instance the plan He 
always followed, of presenting truth through the 
illustrations taken from everyday life, — it was 
Christ who gave us as the test, the natural, 
everyday test, "by its fruits the tree shall be 
known." So, if the Christian life is to be a tree 
bearing fruit, and I can find no better illustra- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 285 

tion of a Christian life, then I may without im- 
propriety, and possibly with some advantage, 
emphasize twelve fruits that every Christian 
life must exhibit. 

I recognize that it would require more time 
than I could properly use tonight to present this 
subject with the elaboration that it deserves. 
But I am speaking to a people who are in the 
habit of studying religious things, and I am sure 
that those who listen will be prepared to furnish 
any amplification of each one of these heads that 
it may deserve. 

The first thing that must appear in the Chris- 
tian life is a belief in God. A belief in God as 
Creator ; God as Preserver ; God as a Heavenly 
Father. There can be no foundation upon which 
to build until man recognizes a supreme being; 
the author of the world and the author of his 
existence. My friends, I believe that the first 
thing we need to do, as we take the young man 
and the young woman fresh from the schools 
and the colleges, sometimes disturbed by the 
study of science, which they are sometimes led 
to believe conflicts with religion, the first thing 
to do is to take the young men and young women 
and plant their feet upon the solid rock and let 
them begin with God. (Applause.) We need 
not be afraid to meet the challenge of the ma- 
terialist. The Bible goes farther back than any 
book of materialism does, so there is no reason 
to be frightened at the questions they ask. I 
think it is time Christianity began asking ques- 



g86 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

tions of materialism instead of spending time 
answering. 

The first word in the first chapter says, "In 
the beginning God created heaven and earth." 
What theory of creation goes back of that? 
What theory of creation goes back to the be- 
ginning? Take any theory which is presented 
for acceptance and analyze it, and it begins by 
assuming that something existed before that 
time. Whenever an apothesis starts with the 
assumption that matter existed and force ex- 
isted, that matter existed in particles infinitely 
fine, why not finer? It is as fine as we can think. 
Why not greater? That is as far as we can 
think, but the theory does not explain how mat- 
ter came into existence, or why. It does not ex- 
plain how force came into existence, or why. It 
does not explain why there was any force and 
agency to act on matter, why there is any mat- 
ter and willingness to be acted on; no attempt 
at explanation. The theory assumes these theo- 
ries to begin with, and having assumed that 
there were things existing before the theory, 
begins to work according to the theory, — force 
working on matter creates a world. We have as 
much right to assume as the materialist and 
Christian prefer to assume, a designer back of 
design, a creator back of creation. We must 
start somewhere, begin with something. The 
Christian begins with God and that is sufficient 
for me. My mind cannot conceive of a world 
like ours without a creator back of it. My 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 281 

mind cannot conceive of a structure like our 
world and our society without a constructor 
back of it. I care not how far along they draw 
out the process of creation. I cannot conceive 
of anything that is intelligent coming from that 
which is not intelligent ; so that no matter how 
far they would take me back by their theories, 
when they have reached the end and gone as far 
as they can go, I go a step farther and say, 
1 i Back of all that was God; He was the Begin- 
ning." (Applause.) 

My friends, not until a man understands that 
he is a part of a divine plan, is he prepared to 
understand life. Not until he understands that 
he is responsible to a Creator, to a Preserver, 
for all he has and is; for every thought and 
word and deed, is he prepared to live. Without 
this conception of life, a man is at sea. Nothing 
will take the place of it. You cannot get enough 
policemen around a man to keep him straight 
if he has not within the policeman who never 
sleeps, and while he is there needs no aid from 
the police outside. It is only when a man 
recognizes the presence of a God in whose sight 
he lives, and to whom he must render account — 
not until then is he prepared to plan for large 
things. So, I would say, the first thing that 
must appear in the Christian life is belief in 
God, in responsibility to God. 

The second thing is belief in Christ, as Son, 
as Saviour, and as example. 

In the discussion of the sonship of Christ, of 



gg8 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

His Divinity, I have found no other book that 
gave me as much assistance as that little book 
most of you have probably read — a little book 
written by Carnegie Simpson, entitled "The 
Fact of Christ." He starts with a proposition 
that Christ lived, an undisputed fact ; and from 
that he builds his argument in favor of the 
divinity of Christ. If we attempt to prove the 
divinity of Christ by the theory of salvation, 
the man to whom we are addressing our argu- 
ment may dispute that and say he is not yet 
convinced. " If we try to enforce the argument 
by reference to the miraculous birth of Christ, 
or the miracles of His life and resurrection, the 
man may say he is not yet convinced by these 
things ; but when we point him to the fact that 
Christ did live, that this young man reared in 
a carpenter shop, who never had access to the 
wisdom of the past and never came in contact 
with the sages of the past, when about thirty 
years of age gathered a few disciples, preached 
for a few months, presented a code of morality 
which the world had never known, which it has 
not yet learned, a code of morality which could 
not be equaled today if with all our civilization 
we gathered the best of every land and asked 
them to prepare a superior code. When we 
trace the history of the influence of Christ, how, 
crucified, His disciples scattered, it has grown 
until hundreds, yes, thousands of millions have 
taken His name with reverence upon their lips, 
and millions have been ready to die rather than 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 289 

surrender the faith He put into their lives. 
When we point them to this greatest fact of 
history, to this fact that cannot be brushed aside 
or scoffed at, when we point out the fact that 
this great character rising through the centu- 
ries, has for nineteen hundred years been 
moulded in the hearts and thoughts and lives of 
men, and exerts more influence today than ever 
before, there is proof that cannot be answered ; 
and then, we ask, is it not easier to believe Him 
divine than to explain in any other way what 
He said and did and was? And when the divin- 
ity is once accepted, all other things become 
easy of explanation. 

But, my friends, that is not the only proof 
that will affect the reason of man. Christ was 
divine because the task that He came to perform 
was more than a human being could perform. 
No human person, no human being aspiring to 
be a God, could do what He did and what He 
does. It required a God condescending to be 
a man, to lift man from his sin and selfishness 
and give him a new birth, with a new vision 
of life. The work to be done was a work that 
no human being could do, as the work that He 
has done is a work that no human being could 
have done. Not only did He come to perform 
more than a man's task — He came to set an 
example that a man could not set. The best 
of men have their imperfections and their lim- 
itations; and if we attempt to imitate a man 
we are more apt to imitate his faults than his 



290 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

virtues. It required a perfect man, one in 
whom no fault could be found, one who spake 
as never man spake, one who was tempted in 
all points like as we are, and yet without sin. 
These things must appeal to the mind of the 
man who is open to argument. Our religion 
does not trample on the reason; it meets the 
requirements of reason; and I am not willing 
that those who call themselves more liberal 
than Christians should take so narrow a view 
of life that they cannot admit that the Spirit 
has a place in this world. 

The third thing that man must exhibit in his 
life is belief in the Holy Spirit. It is not neces- 
sary to explain what the Holy Spirit is, in lan- 
guage that will give a mathematical definition. 
Man could understand what lightning was be- 
fore he knew the character of the fluid that is 
now imprisoned in the man-made wires. So 
that we can understand that there is a spiritual 
current that may come from the suns, that will 
illuminate our lives and warm our hearts and 
give us an energy that is infinitely greater than 
the energy which we borrow from the electric 
current. His life is poor, indeed, that has not 
come in touch with this Spirit. 

If you had been at the conference at Edin- 
burgh, you would not doubt that there is such 
a thing as a Holy Spirit; that it can pervade 
a meeting; that it can touch the heart; you 
could not go through the door and come into 
the presence of that congregation there, with- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 291 

out feeling that you were in a holy place. There 
is a line of communication that can bring the 
Spirit above into communication with the man 
below; and whether this Spirit touches us, 
whether it makes itself known as the still, small 
voice, or pours itself forth in Pentecostal flood, 
the Christian knows that there is a Comforter 
and there is an inspiring voice. 

The Christian must have faith; and it is not 
hard for him to have faith if he begins with 
belief in God, belief in Christ, and belief in 
the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that it is 
impossible to please God without faith; that 
is a very conservative statement of the truth. 
It is impossible to do anything else of any im- 
portance without faith. Faith goes first and 
works afterwards. It is only as one believes 
that he accomplishes, and we need faith today 
as it has been needed through all the past. The 
martyrs had faith; they could not see. Faith 
is the spiritual extension of the vision. It is 
that moral sense that reaches out toward the 
throne and takes hold of those verities that the 
mind cannot grasp. And this faith is necessary. 
We cannot see very far ahead in this life. The 
martyrs could not see the effect of their death. 
They were told if they would just recant, that 
they might live to serve their God some other 
day ; but they refused, and by their death they 
accomplished more than they could accomplish 
had they lived a thousand years. The Chris- 
tian does not know, he cannot inquire, whether 



292 THE PBESBYTEEIAN BROTHEEHOOD 

he is to live for his faith or die for it; but if 
he has that faith he ought to have, he is as 
ready to die for it as to live for it, and not 
until he is ready to die for it is he able to find 
out what truth is able to accomplish. The great 
things of this world have been accomplished 
by those who have attempted to do what is 
seemingly impossible, and prove what man with 
God's aid can do. This, my friends, is a very 
practical thing, because today, as throughout 
all history, faith is the one thing needed. It is 
the faith that makes men stand, if they stand 
alone ; and not until they do stand are they able 
to find out how many stand with them. It is 
this faith that takes hold on the unseen, that 
enables one to accomplish that which makes 
the world go forward. What would have been 
the fate of the Christian Church if the early 
Christians had not had faith? How long would 
it take today to bring the time prophesied when 
every knee shall bow and every tongue con- 
fess, if all who confess themselves Christians 
had the faith that the martyrs had? How long 
would it take the Christian body in this world 
to impress their faith on those who doubt and 
denjj if they gave evidence of their conviction 
by their willingness to die for their conviction, 
if necessary? 

Then the Christian must have in his life that 
desire, first and above everything, to find the 
kingdom of God. That must be his first pur- 
pose. It does not mean that he is indifferent 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 293 

to other things, but it means that in every life 
there must be a paramount thought ; there must 
be a purpose that rises above all other pur- 
poses. There must be a controlling principle 
in a life. When we are told that the search for 
this kingdom, that the desire to first find God's 
will and do it, is man's supreme duty, we don't 
mean that a Christian husband will be less a 
husband because he puts his duty to God first. 
That a Christian father or mother or child, or 
brother or sister, will be less devoted and 
faithful in every relation of life because God 
comes first. We simply mean that until a man 
has fixed his relation to God, he is not in posi- 
tion to see life's relations in their proper pro- 
portion. We would not want to trust our lives 
on a train if the engineer was in doubt as to 
whether it would be better for him to stay on 
the track or run off. There are certain things 
that come first and others that come afterwards. 
There is no conflict between truth; each truth 
fits into every other, and it is true that when 
one has sought first the kingdom of God and 
His righteousness, the other things will be 
added. 

Next in the Christian life comes love as the 
law of life. Love is the greatest thing in the 
world. I am not a theologian; I joined the 
church at such an early age that I did not know 
anything about the creeds of different churches ; 
and I soon became busy with other things, and I 
have not yet had time to study creeds, and it 



294 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

looks now as if it would be several years before 
I could. In fact, I don't realize that I am 
any more anxious now than I was years ago to 
study creeds. I am not prepared to answer 
every question that can be asked about the 
Bible, and I do not spend time trying to recon- 
cile passages that seem to conflict. I have long 
since decided that if we just try to live up to 
the things we can understand, we will be kept so 
busy doing good, that we will not have time to 
worry. 

If any one asks me to tell him just why 
Christ's salvation was planned as it was, I 
tell him that it is not necessary that I shall 
be able to explain it in all its details and to 
everybody's satisfaction, any more than it is 
necessary that I understand how a vegetable 
grows before I use it to sustain life and pre- 
serve my health. I tell him that it is not nec- 
essary that I should understand of what the 
sun is made to feel the influence of its rays. 
It is not necessary that I shall be able to under- 
stand why it is that in water there is a peculiar 
characteristic that makes it different from 
other things. Other things decrease in volume 
from the effects of cold. Water decreases in 
volume until freezing point is reached, and then 
the rule is reversed, and it becomes colder and 
increases in volume; a mysterious thing, but 
I am not going to wait to find out why it is ; I 
am thirsty, I drink. 

But, if I had to explain why Christ's plan of 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 295 

salvation is as it is, I would say that He could 
not have found anything to build a religion 
upon that was to be universal and eternal, ex- 
cept love. That love is the greatest thing in 
the world, and that sacrifice is the end of love, 
and that when Christ so loved the world that 
He was willing to die for it, He gave the high- 
est evidence of His love; and it is the telling 
of that story that touches the hearts of people 
everywhere. You can resist the one who wants 
you to do something for him, but you cannot 
resist the one who wants to do something for 
you. You can resist those who are trying to 
take from you, but not those who are trying to 
bestow upon you something that you need. It 
does not bother me that the one who suffered 
was not the one to enjoy; it does not bother 
me that it was suffered by one for the salva- 
tion of another, because that is no new doctrine 
in this life — you see it every day. I know you 
know that there is nothing good in this world 
that has not been bought by suffering and sac- 
rifice by those who were willing to die for others. 
Freedom of speech and all other blessings have 
been purchased by sacrifice. We find conclusive 
proof that man was made in the image of his 
Creator, from the fact that all through the ages 
men have been willing to die, that blessings 
denied to them might be enjoyed by their chil- 
dren and children's children. Why should not 
Christ have taken the best known principle in 
the world and built His religion on it? It is 



296 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

enough for us to know that this love is sufficient 
unto all things. That the example that He 
set of His love is the example that we can fol- 
low for our own welfare and benefit of all about 
us. I am so glad that there is something that 
is permanent, something that cannot be ex- 
hausted, something that does not give out. We 
are always troubled about the conservation of 
our natural resources, and we are speculating 
about how long it will be before the coal gives 
out, and before the iron ore gives out, and before 
the timber is all gone, and we are speculating 
about what will happen when these times come, 
and as wise citizens it behooves us to conserve 
and economize. I am glad that there is some- 
thing that you don't have to economize with, 
something that you don't need to be afraid will 
be exhausted, for love is that inexhaustible re- 
source; the more you use of it, the more you 
have left to use again. I hope the day will 
come when there will be no war. I hope the 
day will come when nation will not rise up 
against nation. Aye, I shall say more than 
hope, I am sure that the time will come. (Ap- 
plause.) For did not the angels sing " Peace 
on earth, good- will toward men"? Did not the 
prophet declare that he would be called "The 
Prince of Peace"? When that day comes, love 
will still be at work. Love's roll call will still 
be sounded and people will be summoned to that 
higher warfare in which they will try to help 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 297 

each other instead of hurt, try to save instead 
of kill. 

In New York one Sunday I heard a sermon 
by Dr. Parkhurst. He compared force and love. 
He said force might be represented by a ham- 
mer acting on a piece of ice ; each piece would 
still be ice. He likened love to a ray of sunshine, 
which fell upon the ice, and though it acted slow- 
ly, in a little while there was no ice. Love is the 
weapon for which there is no shield. Love was 
given as the law of life. Christ, as some one 
has said, differed from other teachers in that 
others filled the minds of hearers with formula 
and directions; Christ lived the life and gave 
love as the law of life. Love is intelligent; 
love is not blind. Love finds the prisons where 
sin is ; love finds the sick ; love sees the weak- 
ness in boasted strength, and love can detect 
the strength in humility and weakness. 

The expression of love that Christ pressed 
upon His disciples was forgiveness, and that 
must be one of the fruits of the tree. I may be 
mistaken, but I believe this spirit of forgive- 
ness is the most difficult of all the Christian 
virtues to cultivate ; yet it is so important that 
when Christ gave His disciples a form of 
prayer, He made their willingness to forgive the 
basis of their own forgiveness ; it is so human 
to desire revenge, and time was people boasted 
of it. It was written on the monument of one 
man that he repaid both his enemies and 
friends more than he received. That was not 



298 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the spirit of Christ. When at last He was 
brought to the most disgraceful of all deaths 
and nailed to the tree, the spirit of forgive- 
ness rose above the sufferings, and He prayed, 
' ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do." I am not sure that we appreciate 
fully the reason that Christ gave in His dying 
breath; I believe that Christ gives us a rea- 
son for forgiveness that the world has been 
too slow to accept, and that is, that ignorance 
is the cause of sin. The world needs enlighten- 
ment more than it needs the rod. Even those 
whose hearts are full of malice and who cherish 
revenge, do so because they have not learned 
how much more there is to be found in forgive- 
ness than in hatred; and I am satisfied that 
when Christ gave this distinctive feature of 
His religion He intended it to take a prominent 
place. However, if I were called to name the 
one thing more than any other that distin- 
guishes the moral code of Christ from the code 
of the uninspired teachers. I would say it was 
the doctrine of forgiveness. And Christ, I be- 
lieve, did not give it entirely for the forgiven, 
but for the benefit of those who should for- 
give ; for a load of revenge is the heaviest load 
that a human heart can carry. It will break 
anybody down who tries to carry it. Why, my 
friends, it is only occasionally we have a chance 
to get even with an enemy, but we are hurting 
ourselves more than we can hurt any one else. 
If a Christian life is to bear fruit, it must 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 299 

recognize the doctrine personified by Christ, 
that example is the method of propagating the 
truth. Christ said, so let thy light shine that 
others seeing thy good works may be con- 
strained to glorify the Father. What blood- 
shed would have been prevented if Christians 
had been willing to save by their lives, to teach 
by example. There is no reason why Chris- 
tians should quarrel. Eeligion is the one thing 
that people have not any excuse for quarreling 
about; each one should live his religion and 
then the world can tell which is the best. You 
can answer a sermon and answer a speech, but 
no one has yet lived who can answer a Christian 
life. It is the unanswerable argument in sup- 
port of the Christian religion. 

The Christian must exhibit an acceptance of 
Christ's measure of greatness. When the dis- 
ciples quarreled amongst themselves as to who 
would be the greatest, He rebuked them. Serv- 
ice is the measure of greatness. It is true 
today, it will always be true, that he is great- 
est who does the most of good, and how this 
earth will be transformed when this measure 
of greatness is the measure of every life. We 
have had our quarrels, it is true, but it is be- 
cause we have been trying to see what we can 
get out of the world. There will be peace when 
we try to see what we can put in the world. 
The divine measure of a human life is its out- 
growth, its contribution to the welfare of the 
human world. This conception Christ gave to 



300 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the world, this measure of greatness, is the 
revolutionary force that is working in the world 
today. The effort has been to escape service, 
the effort has been to rise to a position where 
there is least work for you. Confucius taught 
his disciples to try to become superior persons, 
that others might have to work for them. 
Christ's doctrine is to make us stronger to bear 
heavier loads ; and when we once take hold of 
this conception of life, we are prepared to make 
life something worth living. When one under- 
stands that his greatness is to be measured by 
his service, he prepares for large service. He 
is ashamed to bring a physical wreck to his 
Master's service; ashamed to give to the Mas- 
ter's work a dull and sluggish mind; ashamed 
to enter his Master's covenant, until he has 
a purpose so high that it can be seen from 
both sides of the river that separates him from 
eternity. It is only when he is conscious of 
the importance of his preparedness, he is ready 
to multiply his strength that his service may 
be large, that he may stand among those who 
manifest their appreciation of their obligation 
to God and to His Son. 

Christ has given us what has been called the 
Golden Rule. It differs from the Golden Eule 
of Confucius, in that it is positive, while the 
Chinese Philosopher gave a negative rule. Con- 
fucius said, "Do not unto others what you 
would not have others do unto you." Christ 
said, "Do unto others what you would have 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 301 

others do unto you." One enjoined a life of 
negative helpfulness ; the other enjoined a life 
of positive helpfulness. There is all the differ- 
ence in the world in the two rules, and you see 
the rule exemplified in the world today. You 
see the Christian nations reaching out in an 
altruistic effort attempting to bring good 
throughout the world ; you find Christians con- 
tributing, voluntarily, twenty-five millions of 
dollars a year to carry the gospel to those who 
know it not. You find Christians attempting 
to do as they would have others do unto them; 
not content to simply refrain from acts of in- 
jury or injustice. 

Another fruit of the tree is belief in immor- 
tality. How different is this conception of life 
that Christ has given us, to the conceptions out 
in some of the countries of the old world ! Take 
Buddhism, for example, that presents life as a 
calamity from which you escape by loss of indi- 
vidual identity. Christianity presents life as 
an opportunity, with a heaven as a reward at 
the end. Who can measure the peace and con- 
solation and joy that have been brought to the 
human heart by this belief in immortality? 
Who can measure the influence that this belief 
in immortality has exerted in building society 
upon a foundation of justice? If a man believes 
that the grave is the end, if he believes that 
he has only to conceal his wickedness from 
those about him while he lives, he is not as 
strong as he ought to be to resist temptation; 



302 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

but let a man believe that after this life there 
is another, a life in which the secrets of the 
heart shall be made known, that he shall live 
with those who knew him here, and what a re- 
straint it is ; for while we have no way of know- 
ing just what there is awaiting us, or what 
punishments are in store, it would be some pun- 
ishment for one who had deliberately done in- 
justice to his neighbor here, for a selfish rea- 
son, to have to stand uncovered through unend- 
ing ages and let his neighbor know how small a 
man he was on earth. 

There is no human philosophy that fits into 
the life, as Christ's philosophy does, and it is 
because this philosophy meets every need and 
provides for every relation of life, that we find 
this tree growing and growing throughout the 
world. Its leaves are indeed for the healing 
of the Nations. And each individual, as he 
brings his life into harmony with this religion 
and makes his life a fruitful tree bearing these 
fruits of the Spirit, does his part in hastening 
the coming of the day when all shall know and 
believe. 

I am glad to be a member of this Brother- 
hood; glad that it stands by the side of other 
Brotherhoods; glad that increasing numbers 
gather in all these Brotherhoods ; for I am one 
of those who believe that these Brotherhoods 
are a part of the great movement that is bring- 
ing Society together and making us understand 
that after the Fatherhood of God comes the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 303 

Brotherhood of Man. It was Christ's purpose 
to establish this Brotherhood on earth, and to 
His disciples He gave commandments that we 
now appreciate the meaning of, more than ever 
before. When at last the world is gathered 
into one great brotherhood, when at last we 
understand the indissoluble tie that binds every 
human being to every other human being, we 
will find that the one great influence that has 
brought this Brotherhood about, is the recog- 
nition of the teachings of the Man of Galilee, 
who came, and by His voice and in His life, 
gave us the example that enables life to be 
fair, to be what life ought to be. (Prolonged 
applause.) 



THE BROTHERHOOD 
AND THE BOY 



THE BOY PROBLEM. 

BY EUGENE C. FOSTER, DETROIT, MICH. 

Considering the importance of this gather- 
ing, I set about to reduce an hour's talk so it 
could be made in half an hour, thinking a pro- 
vision for discussion would be made. I find 
no such provision has been made. I am on the 
program for the subject, The Boy Problem. 
It is not exactly the phrase I sent on to the 
printer, but the proofreader having made me 
stand for this too old subject, I am going to 
state it in algebraic form, suspecting that most 
of you will remember with pleasure when you 
studied that delightful mathematical science. 
I am going to state it in this form — x = the 
boy. I don't like to do it that way, but to be 
in accord with the popular conception, the boy 
is an unknown quantity, y stands for training, 
and that factor was a tremendously known 
quantity; that was a fixed mould; and the 
whole proposition was, pour him into the mould 
and you will have y + x = manhood. It was 
the supposition that that factor had to be rigid, 
fixed ; that it was fixed as the laws of the Medes 
and Persians, and there has been a tremendous 
amount of training along that line. The mould 

307 



308 THE PKESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

was all right; and we missed out and we de- 
served to miss out, and it is part of the re- 
sponsibility for a great many failures that lies 
in the interpretation of that equation. I ask 
you if it is right, — you may call the boy x if 
you please, — is it right to consider him such an 
unknown and variable quantity? How he has 
been studied? The last few years have turned 
the light of science and 'ologies on boy life. I 
have a notion we know a great deal more than 
we did ten years ago, and we are going to know 
more as years go on. There has been so much 
of analysis ; so much of weighing and measur- 
ing; so much of scanning of his life subject to 
all the analyses that can be suggested; until 
we do know a little more about him ; sometimes 
even yet we get off the track. 

We are told almost universally, the boy of 
twelve is a selfish being and we have got to get 
him out of the selfishness. About a week ago, 
passing along a street in Detroit, not far from 
our building, I saw three boys who had been 
at work on a pavement ; and one, who was evi- 
dently the boss of the job, stayed on the job 
and finished the shoveling, and called to the two, 
"Get all youse can for a cent, so I can give you 
all some." I suspect it was a variation of the 
rule we have that a boy is selfish. We have him 
under many conditions. For the benefit of those 
who have not yet heard it, I want to say that 
the boy of today is very much alive and active. 
I like to think of the two men passing down the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 309 

New York street, who were discussing whether 
the street boy was really as alert as they were 
said to be. One of them touched a boy on the 
shoulder and said, "What time is it by your 
nose?" Quick as a wink, he turned and said, 
1 'Mine ain't running; is yours?" 

I remember a little observation which I made 
in Philadelphia. I was going down our nar- 
row Chestnut street on a car. It was just about 
dusk, and a newsboy was on the street crying 
under the car windows the paper he was sell- 
ing ; the crying of a famous trial, an infamous 
trial in New York City; crying at the top of 
his voice. At that instant a fire truck came on 
him. The fire truck passed our car like a flash 
and it had scarcely passed the window where 
I was sitting before he was around again and 
was calling, "Extry, extry, all about the big 
fire." I take it that the part of the problem 
in dealing with the boy is that you and I have 
not been sufficiently awake. He is tremendously 
awake along the time I am thinking of, between 
twelve and sixteen. 

I want to study that other factor, the training 
of the boy, the influences that come about the 
boy ; and I want to see if that has anything to 
do with the men of the Presbyterian Brother- 
hood of America. I hold, knowing the boy as 
we do, every man has a threefold obligation 
upon him with reference to the boy, and I sus- 
pect I can just barely state the threefold oblig? - 
tion. As it seems to me, the obligation is defi- 



310 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

nitely upon every Christian man, every man 
who has arrived in his Christian life, every man 
who has fought through the problems of boy- 
hood and young manhood and feels as if he 
was standing on solid ground; it seems there 
is an obligation to be a guide to an indi- 
vidual boy. It might be your own son, or 
it might be your own younger brother. It 
might be several sons or younger brothers, 
but hardly would there be any two at the 
same time. This business of playing guide 
to the boy when he is going into what the 
Germans call the storm and stress period, 
and some of us, if we were honest, could say 
that is the hardest fight a man ever has in his 
life; to be a guide to the boy at this time; if 
you have not either son or younger brother, to 
some other boy. I cannot conceive by what man- 
ner of Christian reasoning, how any man can 
live without being guide to some boy of that 
kind. I want to be a bit personal. About the 
age of fourteen or fifteen, when I needed him 
most, there came a young man into my life; 
he did not know anything about the psychology 
of adolescence, or anything else, but he knew a 
young boy of fourteen or fifteen needed a young 
man friend, and he came to me when I needed 
him ; plain and simple he was, having very little 
time; a printer, working ten hours a day in 
those days ; evening time and Sunday time and 
such holiday time as he had, he gave very 
largely to me. He saw me through the time 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 31 1 

when I know I was ungrateful to him; he saw 
me through the time when I knew more than 
all the universe beside ; he saw me arrive at 
maturity before he let go. Long years have 
passed since German Charlie's body was laid 
beneath the Southern sod. and in the light of 
that experience, rnen, when I grew to maturity 
and realized what Charlie did for me, I said 
never again will there be a time when I am 
not attached definitely as a young man guide 
to some boy. 

God has helped me to keep that vow. There 
has been no boy in my own home; my con- 
stituency at the present time has been estimated 
at about 30,000 boys in the city of Detroit. I 
have the one boy, I make no excuse that so 
many boys are demanding my attention. Some 
one said to me today: "Tell them the story 
of that boy you told me about." I said: "I 
cannot; it would take the full hour." He 
is now the straightest little fellow of fourteen 
years that you would want to see today. I 
have kept my vow. I hope you will get some 
suggestion from this, that no man can live his 
Christian life without being attached to some 
one boy. 

I believe he has a second obligation — to at- 
tach himself to a group of boys. Such groups 
without adult advice are dangerous. I could 
go on and prove that out of a long experience. 
Xo man has fulfilled his obligation who simply 
relates himself to a boy: he has a further clutv 



312 THE PEESBYTEEIAX BEOTHEEHOOD 

— to relate himself to a group of boys. I would 
not fix the group; that is for the man to do. 
It may be a Sunday School class, and God knows 
the men are needed for this. I had a letter the 
other day from a church in Brooklyn: "Come 
over to Brooklyn; we are going to have all 
the men of the church together; we are going 
to have a supper; we are going to feed them 
until they feel so good they will do anything, 
and we will pump them full of the boy matter." 
I said, "I cannot go." That letter was from 
a young woman of the church, and to my posi- 
tive knowledge she has been working for two 
years to get those men to consent to come and 
listen. I could not go, and I got a letter from 
a man saying that the women gave them this 
supper and every woman retired from the room 
and left this boy subject to the men to talk it 
over. We go about the country and forty to 
fifty per cent of the teachers of boy classes are 
women, many of them doing a magnificent work, 
many of them doing a fine work. Many of us 
are here because of fine women teachers in days 
gone by, but I plead that more men shall become 
teachers. 

It may be in the shop you work in, the office, 
there is a group of boys that needs a man for 
a leader. I plead with you, relate yourselves to 
the group of boys in some capacity, Sunday 
School or elsewhere. 

I say there is a third obligation which seem- 
ingly rests on a man as I see it; and I think 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 313 

I can speak in this convention with freedom 
and with unusual emphasis, because I am talk- 
ing* to the men who in a large measure help to 
mould community influence. I am thinking of 
your relationship to boyhood, not the individual 
boy, not groups of boys, — all the boys who live 
within reach of your influence. I wish I might 
make it clear to you ; so much is your influence 
needed in this line. 

Some time ago the National Child Labor Com- 
mission met, and investigated the Messenger 
Boy Service at night in some of the cities of 
the United States. I know enough to know that 
men are here from some of the cities they inves- 
tigated. Do you know, when I tried to get a 
copy of the report, they told me it would have 
to be sent to me by express, as the sending of 
it through the United States mail would vio- 
late the Federal Statutes, it was so vile and 
filthy. Do the communities care where those 
things were found out ? Some communities have 
found out. I made an investigation of some 
fifty who were going out to save those messen- 
ger boys, and not one of the fifty cities had 
cared enough to try to save those boys through 
any legislative enactments. It was so easy; 
these boys were not Presbyterians, or Meth- 
odists; perhaps not sons of our Brotherhood; 
not from our Sunday Schools ; their poor little 
warped, twisted, soiled lives did not affect us 
at all, and it is so easy to let it go at that ; yet 
there is a class of boys any twenty men of rep- 



314 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

resentative Brotherhoods could set to save if 
they would, and you could bring such a pres- 
sure to bear on those companies that they would 
not employ any one under twenty- one to do 
their dirty work at night. I would not offend 
you this morning or disturb the sweet influences 
in this church ; I do not want to shock you, but 
how they need you to help them ! 

Have you looked into the high school condi- 
tions in your city? I have not any intention 
of speaking of information of any particular 
high schools; but do you know that there are 
high school conditions that are beyond descrip- 
tion? I walked along the street of a suburban 
town of our great cities. I passed a high school, 
and to my friend I said, "Is the condition in 
this place as serious as I have heard stated?" 
He replied, "I have lived in this place quietly 
for four years. My work is such that I spend 
little time on these matters, but in the four years 
that my wife and I have lived here there have 
come to our attention, without our seeking, four- 
teen cases of illicit relationship between boys 
and girls in the high school; and no one cares 
and no one lifts a finger in this place of twenty 
thousand people, to take a step against it. ? ' 

It relates to the boyhood of your city. There 
may be a girl in your home who may be affected 
by this condition. I want to plead for you to 
be responsible for the conditions; that some- 
how you sum up the conditions for good and 
evil against which the boy goes, and somehow 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 315 

through your Brotherhood work you make it 
possible to increase the sum total of good and 
decrease the sum total of evil. There are a hun- 
dred ways to do it. I want to state my equation 
again in a different way : x represents the boy, 
if you will not say unknown, as you used to 
think; y — let it represent the influence that 
comes upon him to represent right manhood, 
and y for you Brotherhood men. You are the 
determining factor in the equation, which makes 
for the boy's manhood; and may God help you 
to be responsible and responsive to the trust. 



OPEN CONFERENCE ON BOYS' WORK. 

LED BY EUGENE C. FOSTER, DETROIT. 

Mr. Foster: — Mr. Chairman, I am not going 
to make a speech at this time. Frankly, I sup- 
pose if I chose to do so I might possibly, for the 
time that is left me, interest you with some 
stories of boys that I have known, and tickle 
your ears in a way and send you back saying, 
"That was interesting and, perhaps, profita- 
ble." But I rather choose to say very little, 
and then to ask you a question or two; so you 
are to have the speech-making of this hour. 

I want to close the speech of the morning, 
which I did not get closed, by saying that in 
my estimation we ought to try to carry the 
thought further. I tried to show you that it 
was the obligation of every man to relate him- 
self to the boy life somewhere, and I would 
like to have made it a little more plain if I 
could, that even if you are relating yourself 
to the boy in your home, there is some other 
boy that needs you mighty bad that has no 
father like you are to your boy. I tried to show 
you that I thought a man should relate himself 

316 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION gl? 

to a group of boys, and I tried to show you that 
I believe it to be his duty to relate himself to 
boy life. Now let me make another application. 
If it is not the Brotherhood's business as an 
organization to relate itself to the boys, then I 
don't know whose business it is. I don't know 
of any church organization upon which the bur- 
den of seeing that the boys of the community 
are provided for, rests more heavily than upon 
the Brotherhood. So I want to make it indi- 
vidual, and lay it upon you as a Brotherhood 
to see that things are done for the boys, and 
done right. 

Now, I want some of you to tell us what 
your Brotherhoods are doing. Don't tell us 
anything else. Don't tell us what you are doing 
as a Sunday School class unless you represent a 
Brotherhood, and please tell it in ten-word tele- 
grams, and not get mixed up in night letters. It 
does not need much explanation if it is as clear 
as it ought to be. To get this before us, I want 
you to tell us what your Brotherhoods now are 
doing. Won't you tell us now, in a very few 
words ? 

Member (from Joplin, Mo.): — We have 
pledged the Juvenile Court that we will get back 
of the Court and help it. 

Mr. Foster: — Have you been able to work 
that out? 

Member : — We are going to do the business. 



318 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Mr. Foster : — Does the Court welcome it? 

Member : — Yes, I guess so. 

Member (from Kansas) : — We are conducting 
an Athletic Club. 

Member (from First Presbyterian Church, 
Pittsburgh) : — We employ a man for work 
among the boys — Mr. Hazel. He will speak 
about his work. 

Mr. Hazel : — Well, it would take too long for 
me to describe my work. I have found, as you 
outlined it, as you only could, that you have 
got to love the boy and have to have your heart 
saturated with the love, and with that you can 
get the boy, and in no other way, so far as I 
know. And perhaps a man trained as I am 
trained is able to reach boys more than the 
average man, because when you have a boy in 
your office stripped before you for examination, 
you have the chance to talk to him as you could 
not in any other way. I have one school in 
Pittsburgh in which there are two boys that 
drive me nearly crazy. I cannot get next to 
them. Well, I have tried everything I possibly 
could try. I have prayed about it, and I have 
prayed with them and joked with them. I was 
talking with the principal of the school the other 
day, and he said, " There are two boys with 
whom I don't think you will accomplish any- 
thing. One is hopeless, but of the other boy 
there may be some hope. " I invited them to my 



ST, LOUIS CONVENTION 319 

home. One of them came, but the other got 
cold feet. We had a splendid evening together. 
My wife went away to some function that night 
and left us to ourselves. Emphasize that spirit 
of love for the boy. 

Mk. Foster : — That is a very real thing. 

Member (from Second Presbyterian Church, 
Chicago) : — We employ a physical director two 
nights in the week. 

Mr. Foster : — The Church or the Brother- 
hood? 

Member: — The Church and the Brotherhood 
are one in our church. 

Member (from Middletown, Ohio) : — We have 
provided our boys a gymnasium and swimming 
pool, and have a physical director. We are lov- 
ing our boys and trying to get next to them. 
We have a guarantee fund of nine hundred dol- 
lars a year, and at this time we are looking for 
a man, preferably a young Presbyterian man. 
We think there is a great field in our town for 
work for boys that have no other church fel- 
lowship. 

Member (from First Church of Altoona, 
Pa.) : — We provide athletics and evening games 
for the boys on our regular meeting nights. 

Member (from First Church, Kansas City, 
Kan.) : — We are getting behind a campaign for 
a $200,000 Y. M. C. A. 



320 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Member (from Normal Park Church, Chi- 
cago) : — We are trying to furnish teachers for 
boys in the Sunday School under sixteen years 
of age. We have furnished five teachers for 
this class within two years. We are coming 
into the "Big Brother" movement, and many 
of our men have signed cards agreeing to be 
a big brother to a boy. 

Mr. Foster: — What system do you follow? 
Have you a committee, or is it through men 
who work with the Sunday School Superin- 
tendent? 

Member: — We work under the direction of 
the Superintendent. 

Delegate: — We have one of the best organ- 
ized works for boys in the state of Missouri, 
for boys from the cradle up to sixteen. We 
have a secretary for boys' work, gymnasium 
instructor, and we look after all the interests 
of the boy, even to getting him a job. 

Mr. Foster: — I knew that you would fill us 
full of ideas of things which are being done. 
Let me emphasize, please, that little matter 
which might have escaped you, in which I asked 
about the Chicago church. I had on my list 
the furnishing of Sunday School teachers for 
classes in the Sunday School; but there is 
always a possible conflict there — that the 
Brotherhood Committee shall unwisely suggest 
or insist that so-and-so be made a teacher. But 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 321 

do you see how wisely they have worked it out, 
working under the Superintendent of the Sun- 
day School, exactly where they ought to be? 

Now, think of these things that have been 
suggested. I wish me might enumerate some 
more here, but I want to ask another question. 
I am glad your Brotherhood has not organized, 
and I am going to get on thin ice here, I expect 
— I am glad that your national organization has 
not organized a Boys' Division or Boys' Depart- 
ment and called it a Junior Brotherhood. I am 
not glad that you have not organized it, but I 
am glad you have not organized and called it a 
Junior Brotherhood. I believe you can get any 
number of boys into such a Brotherhood, but 
I believe the experience generally is that the 
boy will not stay in the Junior Brotherhood 
during the seventeen, eighteen, nineteen year 
periods, or even the sixteen-year period; and 
while you get them as boys, you will lose out— 
you will have to get them back again. The boy 
objects to being in the Junior Brotherhood as 
he gets older. Don't use a name having 
"Junior" attached to it. I believe if you will 
think that through you will find that I am right. 

Then you can go a step further in your work 
and make your Brotherhood absolutely respon- 
sible for seeing that a training class for older 
boys is established and properly conducted. 
Training a teacher for the Sunday School is 
generally better than finding a teacher. I tried 
an experiment last year. I selected a group 



322 THE PRESBYTERIAN BBOTHERHOOD 

of six high school boys average fifteen and a 
half years of age, and gave them a fourteen 
weeks' course in studying to teach. Five out 
of the six are this winter teaching Bible classes 
of fourteen and fifteen year old boys, under 
my direction. Now, that thing is possible. But 
to do it ! You may not have a man that can 
do it. It may cost you something to get a rec- 
ognized teacher to come in and train them ; but 
get it done somehow. Some of you can pay 
for getting that done, that cannot do other 
things that are mentioned. I believe that you 
can become responsible for seeing that there 
is a definite phase of boy work in your church, 
other than the Sunday School work, between 
Sundays. 

Now, don't mistake me. There is one busi- 
ness I have on earth. Don't mistake what I am 
for. I want to tie a boy up to Jesus Christ and 
bring Jesus Christ into his life as a personal 
Saviour. Don't think I have an idea of working 
along some other line. 

Now, I believe you can do something which 
is concrete, and which is tremendously interest- 
ing. I believe you can appoint some one or 
some committee, especially in the smaller com- 
munity, who would be responsible for finding 
out the conditions under which your boys live. 
How blind we are to conditions ! I can go into 
a city and know more in a week about such con- 
ditions than people who have been there twenty 
years. You ought to know what are the most 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 323 

serious temptations your boys have to face. 
What are the influences which are pulling down? 
Your Brotherhood ought to know that ; and you 
can appoint some one of your Brotherhood to 
find out. Take, for instance, this matter of the 
messengers that I spoke about. Suppose, when 
an ordinance was introduced providing for the 
regulation of messenger traffic, what would have 
happened without vigilance? The outcome would 
have been that it would have been smothered 
in the committee. Can you not, as a Brother- 
hood, become responsible for the measures 
which legislate for the suppression of vice? 
Can you not help along these lines, and can you 
not do it through a definite individual, or a defi- 
nite committee? You can become a co-oper- 
ative force with other organizations for the 
betterment of boys. At least four times within 
a year I have been appealed to by an organiza- 
tion, national in character, to leave my work 
and go out for the youth; but I have refused 
every time, because I have got a job where I 
am that takes all the time I have. But the last 
time these national authorities appealed to me, 
I said, "I will not make any change. I believe 
I am where God wants me to be." Then I 
challenged them with a challenge that I thought 
they would not meet. I said, "I will not give 
my time to this enterprise, but if you will 
authorize the employment of a man who will 
come to Detroit, I will supervise his work, sub- 
ject to certain conditions." 



324 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

They said, "What are the conditions ? " 
I said, "He is not to make a speech for a 
year." They said, "We will accept that." Then 
I began to get scared. Then they said, "What 
else?" 

I said, ' ' Study this condition absolutely from 
the laboratory standpoint, and study this 
Church problem with me, and not open his 
mouth for the year." And now it is up to me 
to get the man. But I wish this Presbyterian 
Brotherhood, or some laymen who could afford 
it, would say, "We will put a man in the field, 
to simply sit down with our Presbyterian 
churches and study this problem of the boy," 
and come to our next convention and tell us 
about it. 

A Question : — If all these things can be done, 
why are you not doing them? 

A Member: — The difficulties in a small city 
are too great. We have no physical directors 
we can call upon ; we have no man. qualified to 
do boys' work. 

Mr. Hazel: — Where is that man from? 

Mr. Foster: — Stand up so he can see you. 
You and Mr. Hazel get together — not now, but 
after a while. 

A Member: — The great difficulty is that the 
men do not believe in "Fostering" boys. That 
is the problem we have today in our church. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 325 

We are trying to solve the boy problem. A 
man is giving all Ms spare time without com- 
pensation, but he has not been accepted by the 
Brotherhood. We have started, but have not 
launched the movement. In one of the Sunday 
School classes the teacher was explaining the 
Boy Scouts, and a member of the church ses- 
sion said, "This man is not teaching the Sun- 
day School lesson; he is teaching something 
else." Now, if the men in the church do not 
understand these things, it is high time they 
were studying them. The trouble is, the men 
do not know the condition of the boy. 

Mr. Foster: — I wonder if it is very general 
that church officials block the work. Let us see 
the hands of those who find it so. There is a 
condition I did not expect to find. This is more 
serious than I thought it was. 

A Member : — How are we to bring them in as 
a junior organization, when we do not have the 
sympathies of the parents and influence of the 
boys ' homes ? You cannot expect a few of them 
to keep in touch with that boy all the time. 

A Member : — In behalf of the parents, I want 
to say it would take a Pinkerton detective to 
watch the boys. 

Mr. Foster: — I would like to see a show of 
hands of the men who know the conditions of 
the communities in which you live. That is 
good. Better than I expected. The worst show- 



3^6 THE PRESBYTERIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

ing we have had is that condition of church 
officials standing in the way. Of course, the 
church officials will say they objected to it be- 
cause it has not been wisely conducted. But 
about the detective: It depends. The boy I 
have in mind, who was the worst boy in Detroit, 
got into a fight; and he came to me and told 
me of the fight that he had been in the day 
before. It did not take a detective for me to 
find that out. 

A Member: — A boy told me something that 
horrified me. He said his father thinks he 
ought to fight his own way out. 

Me. Fostee : — The point is that in all respects 
I am the father of this boy except in a physical 
way. 

A Delegate : — How do you get the boy inter- 
ested in Bible Study? 

Me. Fostee : — First, I let it sweep me off my 
feet until he realizes that there is nothing in 
the universe so interesting to me as the Bible 
Study of the hour. I do not like to teach Bible 
Study on routine lines. I want to teach it in 
a different way. In other words, I think it is 
worth time and thought and ingenuity and plan. 
I have set out a Bible Study Eeview for several 
groups of boys that will be a game through and 
through, and they will play it to beat the band, 
if you will excuse the expression, and they will 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 327 

have no less respect than if they studied and 
reviewed it in the old-fashioned way. 

A Delegate : — Do you mean the boy wants to 
be good rather than bad? 

Me. Fostee : — Oh, yes, indeed, my dear 
brother. I have run into some Presbyterian 
doctrine here ; I ought to have been more care- 
ful. Let me tell you, if I did not believe that 
of every boy that I meet, until he convinced me 
to the opposite, I would not get far with boys. 
I will at least give him the benefit of the doubt. 
Out of quite a long experience in meeting boys, 
I hardly know that I could name enough excep- 
tions to cover the fingers of one hand. 

A Delegate : — What is your opinion and 
judgment of the Boy Scout movement as a par- 
tial solution of this problem? 

Me. Fostee : — I was in a discussion in Illinois 
and it swept the discussion. If any one wants 
to know about it, I will meet any group. The 
Boy Scout Movement, I think, is excellent, and 
I see no reason why it should not be one of the 
best movements ever introduced in our cities. 

A Membee: — My question grows out of this 
question about the Scout movement. Our leader 
said that they had so many boys that they were 
hanging out of the windows. I suppose he had 
Presbyterian boys, and Congregational boys, 
and all kinds of boys. How are you going to 
handle that situation? 



328 THE PEE3BYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

Me. Fostee : — It so happened that these boys 
were not anything "else before they got to the 
Methodist Church. I suspect that a church will 
have in its membership sometimes, if they don't 
look out, boys from other churches. I had a case 
where I was waited upon by a mother because 
her boy, a Methodist, was going to a Presby- 
terian Sunday School. I am a Methodist, and 
I appreciated her position. What I did was to 
go to the Methodist Sunday School and get a 
band of Boy Scouts organized, and now they 
have the boy. 

Why are you not doing it? I want this ques- 
tion to ring in your ears all the way to Denver, 
if you live there. One of the most outstanding 
propositions in the program is to help the 
church do its own boy work. 

A Membee : — I have fifty or sixty high school 
boys in my class, and I have not time to brother 
them or father them through the week. Should 
I stay in the leadership of that class? 

Me. Fostee : — I do not know, but if you have 
that many boys, I suspect you should. I believe 
you can take that leadership and develop the 
older boys and make leaders of them. 



WORLD WIDE VISION 
AND OPPORTUNITY 



THE DISTINCTIVE TEUTH OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

BY KEV. ANDREW V. V. RAYMOND, D.D., BUFFALO, N. Y. 

Presbyterians for over three hundred years 
have prided themselves on their accurate and 
comprehensive knowledge of the laws and ways 
of God, and have been willing to stand an ex- 
amination, a competitive examination, with any 
other denomination that might be named, as to 
what the Bible teaches with regard to sin and 
salvation. That makes it hard to speak within 
the limits of the catechism. But in these mod- 
ern times religious thought has pushed beyond 
the old boundaries, and has set up new bounda- 
ries, wider boundaries ; and if we Presbyterians 
are to keep our distinctive place in the religious 
world, we must find and formulate the new and 
larger truth which God would teach and is 
teaching to His children. If we would keep our 
distinctive place, we must go further than that 
— we must let that truth find us and form us, 
so that our convictions upon it are as positive 
and our obedience as instinctive as the convic- 
tions and obedience of our fathers to the truth 
that God gave them. Note this principle: 
Progress or growth of religious truth is funda- 

331 



332 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

mental and essential to any religion that is 
going to hold its own in this day of human 
progress. This does not mean that we are to 
become wise beyond what is written. This is 
the wonderful thing about the Bible, that it 
contains, I believe, all the truth that the world 
will ever need. But it does mean this, that we 
are to follow the light of revelation as it leads 
us into spiritual regions, and further and ever 
further into the righteousness of the Kingdom 
of God. 

The proposition which I make this afternoon, 
or which I submit this afternoon, is this, that 
despite all the progress we have made and de- 
spite all truth which we Presbyterians have got- 
ten and have given to the world — despite all 
this, we are only beginning to understand 
Christianity ; we are right on the verge of what 
might be called the real Christian era, or the 
beginning of it. To show what I mean, let me 
give expression to an idea that has received 
applause now for generations, " An honest man 
is the noblest work of God." Do you believe 
that? I don't, and you don't. He is a noble 
work — let us all admit that, verily — but not the 
noblest. At some time in the past he may have 
been the noblest work of God. He is not now, 
because increased knowledge calls for some- 
thing more, and every new stage of progress 
calls for a new statement. Animal life ap- 
peared on the earth ; that advanced, and human 
life appeared. Man could not have lived in the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 333 

carboniferous age ; trees were the noblest work 
of that age; they are not now. A sculptor 
works in the figure in the earth; it is the best 
he can do with certain tools he uses, not the 
best he can do with finer instruments in the 
marble. So I believe God has certain laws for 
the beginning of human development, and other 
laws, different laws, for the completion of 
human development. The honest man might 
have been once the noblest work of God, but the 
requirements are now something more than 
honesty. 

Let us consider the savage, as we were all 
once in our ancestry; savage developed into a 
civilized condition. Now, as a savage, the only 
law he knows is his own desire ; what he wants 
he gets, if he can. If he wants another savage's 
dress suit of beads and feathers, he gets it if 
he can. If he wants his life, he gets that if he 
can. His only law is that of his own desire, 
and the only limit to that law, the only bound- 
ary, is set by his own ability. Wherever that 
is true, a man is a savage, whatever Christian 
dress he may wear. Where the only law of his 
life is his own desire, and the only limit to get 
is his ability to get, that makes every man a 
savage. 

Now, if this man is to be developed, he must 
come under some other law than that of his 
own desire; he must come under the law of 
restraint, which will say to him when he 
reaches out his hand to take something that 



334 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

belongs to another, ' * Thou shalt not, ' ' and when 
he lifts his hand to take another's life, "Thou 
shalt not ; ' ' and to get that into the savage man 
is difficult. First, he takes just a little ; instead 
of killing another man, he half kills, and prides 
himself on his restraint; he has denied himself 
something. That will progress until he has es- 
tablished the fact that he does not take any- 
thing that belongs to another; so he emerges 
from his savage state an honest man and a 
possible citizen, and there he stands, the noblest 
work of God. I believe in all such laws of re- 
straint; but are you ready to say that he is 
the finest type of man because he has learned 
to keep his hand out of another man's pocket 
and his hands from another man's throat? Is 
the highest type of virtue, in other words, not 
doing wrong to any other man? Now, let us 
admit at once that it is high virtue, and perhaps 
rare virtue, but it is surely not the highest 
virtue. 

This man, whose development we are tracing, 
comes under a new law, emerges from one 
school, enters another, enters the law of con- 
straint and says, "How will it do to give him 
something that belongs to you? Take nothing 
from him that belongs to him; how about giv- 
ing him something that belongs to you? He 
has no claim upon you other than the claim of 
his need. You are perfectly honest towards 
him now ; how will it be to be generous toward 
him ? ' ' That is a new opportunity, a new prin- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 335 

ciple altogether, and, as the old principle, it 
might work slowly at first. He gives a little, 
and then he fairly glows with pleasure. The 
men who get the most satisfaction are those 
who are just beginning to give. This law con- 
tinues its operation because the needs of these 
other men, as he regards them, rise higher 
and higher in his estimation, until they stand 
abreast of his own; and the more the needs 
rise, he feels he must give ; and when they get 
abreast of his own they don't stop, but rise 
above his own. He is then willing to deny him- 
self for the other, and then he stands the noblest 
work of man, even like his Master, who came 
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
to give His life as a ransom for many. 

We simply follow the course of progress of 
civilization, until we face the gate of the flam- 
ing sword in the Garden of Eden. I don't 
know much about Adam before he fell, but I 
know a good deal about Adam after he fell; 
and the race to which Grod began to reveal Him- 
self in the days of Abraham was a cruel, rapa- 
cious and bloodthirsty race. And so the burden 
of the first requirements, "Thou shalt not," 
stands out at the beginning of seven of the 
commandments — practically stands at the be- 
ginning of nine, the only exception being 
"Honor thy father and thy mother." The 
Israelites were chosen as a nation to be put to 
school to learn what they should not do, and 
it took two thousand years to get into their 



336 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

minds and their hearts the principle of negative 
virtue, the things they should not do. But they 
learned that lesson, and when Christ came the 
Jews were the moral leaders of the world — 
moral in the sense that -they had learned what 
should not be done. I am speaking of the nation 
as a whole; they stood far above all the other 
nations of the earth in their recognition of the 
things that were not to be done, the very funda- 
mentals of moral character. 

But Christ came to lead men higher, and He 
put all the emphasis on the things that should 
be done. He had very little to say about nega- 
tive virtues. I sometimes like to go through the 
gospel story to find out just how much Christ 
had to say in the way of positive teaching, in 
the way of direct teaching. Concerning the 
Mosaic law, that had all been done before — the 
foundations had been laid. Christ came to 
build upon them; He did not abrogate them 
in any sense. Instead of coming to teach over 
again, '-Thou shalt not kill," He said, "A new 
commandment I give unto you, that ye love 
one another." All the force of His ministry 
was placed on the positive virtues, the things 
that men were to do to make them righteous. 
He called a group of men about Him for that 
purpose. To make them moral? Not at all. 
The first Apostles, so far as we know, were 
moral men, in good and regular standing in 
the Jewish Church. They had learned the Law 
of Moses and were keeping the Law of Moses. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 337 

He did not call them out of their world to make 
them moral men, but He called them to make 
them servants of others. And how they hated 
to learn that lesson! not because they were 
Jews, but because they were men. It is inher- 
ent in humanity to hate to serve, for man loves 
to rule; but Christ kept these men about Him, 
and by precept and parable, and example espe- 
cially, He manifested the truth. 

You know these precepts. It is not enough 
not to curse back. We think that is about all 
that is expected of us, if we don't curse the 
men who curse us. " Bless them that curse 
you." That is Christianity. "Pray for them 
that despitefully use you." If a man injures 
you, instead of feeling that you have done all 
that can be required of any mortal by not strik- 
ing back, learn from Christ what Christianity 
means — doing good to the man who injures you. 
That is Christianity. 

Take His parables. We are so familiar with 
their teachings we fail to keep in mind, I think, 
in any positive way, the real distinctive teach- 
ings of those parables. Take that most familiar 
parable of all, the Good Samaritan. The Priest 
and Levite were honorable men, and did not 
owe anything to that man that fell by the way- 
side. They passed by on the other side ; their 
skirts were clear. The Good Samaritan did 
not owe him anything ; yet Christ points to him 
and says to the whole world, "Go thou and do 
likewise." Be more than honest— be helpful. 



338 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

In the same way the man who had the big 
crop, you remember, whose fields brought forth 
twofold, so he could tear down barns and build 
others. That was not against him — the mere 
fact of his inheriting property. There is noth- 
ing suggested as to his defrauding the men who 
worked for him. Probably he paid the current 
wages to the men who harvested his crops and 
built his barns, perfectly honest in a business 
way; but because he proposed the selfish en- 
joyment of his riches, God said, "This night 
thy soul shall be required of thee." 

I could go on multiplying illustrations, but 
they are not necessary. We see it all in Christ's 
life ; His whole life was a sacrifice on the altar 
of humanity. "Though rich, He became poor, 
that we through His poverty might be made 
rich." I talk about that as representing Chris- 
tianity; then look at the life of today and ask 
if it is thoroughly Christian. As I have said, 
His disciples did not like to learn the lesson 
of unselfish service. You remember how, after 
being with Him three years and receiving from 
Him constantly, they quarreled just before His 
death as to which should be greatest; and even 
after His death, at the time of His resurrection, 
they expected that the King should come to 
Jerusalem. And what were they thinking of? 
That when His Kingdom came, they thought 
they would be high in power ; they were going to 
share the glory of it absolutely without any idea 
of service to be rendered ; looking out for them- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 339 

selves all the time. But the day of Pentecost 
came ; and that spiritual experience revolution- 
ized their whole nature, and then they saw 
Christianity as it was, and Christ as He was, 
and began to be Christians. And we hear them 
saying, "We who are strong ought to bear the 
burdens of the weak." There was an obligation 
just as binding upon them as Christians as any 
law of honesty that Moses had taught. "Bear 
ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of 
Christ.'' They learned the lesson and went out 
into the world. 

What I have said has been to indicate the 
general direction of the teaching of the Old 
and New Testaments, the one supplementing 
the other. We recognize, of course, that in the 
Old Testament there were many teachings that 
led men out of themselves; but the burden of 
instruction in the Old Testament, especially at 
the beginning, was in the direction of restraint, 
as I have said; and the direction of teaching 
in the New Testament was in connection with 
the principle of service, the law of constraint — 
a new commandment. 

So we find that the Old Testament Church 
was a self-contained body ; it existed for itself. 
They were the chosen people, elect, called out 
from all the world. The rest of the world could 
go where it pleased; they were the chosen of 
God. That idea was fostered by all the religion 
that gathered about the teachings of Moses. 
But Christ came to say, "You are chosen, you 



340 TH E PBESBYTERIAN BKOTHEBHOOD 

followers of me, you are chosen; but you are 
chosen to go out into all the world." The influ- 
ence of the one was centripetal, the influence 
of the other was centrifugal. And God was 
wise in this progress from the Old Testament 
to the New, in giving a body of truth, first of 
all, and then commissioning men to go and teach 
it to all the world. The disciples went forth, 
as we know, and what did they meet? They met 
barbarism again, ethically speaking. Eoman 
civilization and Grecian civilization had not 
lifted the world a hairbreadth in the matter of 
morality. You remember the picture which 
Froude draws of the Eoman Empire, a Pagan- 
ism still, the high society of Rome become a 
society of animals with an enormous appetite 
for pleasure. They had to meet those condi- 
tions, which meant they had to begin all over 
with the first precept of restraint, and that was, 
"Thou shalt not." And for nineteen hundred 
years that has been the foundation of the right- 
eousness which is at last to reach to the heavens 
— laying the foundations in the law of restraint. 
And only within the last hundred years of our 
modern Christian era have we seemed to come 
into anything like real appreciation of the dis- 
tinctive spirit of Christianity. After all these 
years we have learned what we should not do, 
and you take the Christians by and large, they 
are moral men. They do not have to be taught 
"Thou shalt not steal," and "Thou shalt not 
kill." The Church has been established in these 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 341 

principles of a negative morality. And the old 
Puritans were the chosen of God, and the Pres- 
byterians the elect of God; and we have felt 
it all along; but after our own salvation, just 
like the old Jews. But now we are beginning 
to learn the new truth, and Christ is saying to 
us, "If you are elect, you are elected to carry 
my Gospel to all the world. You are elected 
for my work in the world, not for your own sal- 
vation alone. Chosen for my work." And that 
is His message to the Church which bears His 
name. 

We have come to recognize that the essential, 
the distinctive, the keynote of Christianity is 
the note of universality. We are coming to 
understand the meaning of that term, that 
Christ applied or chose for Himself, "the Son 
of Man," the Brother of all humanity, the One 
with all men, everywhere. We are coming to 
understand, and the keynote comes out clear 
and strong in this age, that the whole world is 
coming together ; and the nations of the world 
cannot live apart, and the Islands call to the 
Continent. In this age, when governments are 
seeking to become world powers and business is 
looking to the ends of the earth for the exten- 
sion of trade; in this age, this keynote of 
Christianity sounds clearer and stronger than 
it has ever sounded before since Apostolic days ; 
and if we are not ready to follow that call, we 
shall lose our distinctive place among the re- 
ligions of the world. I do not know just how 



342 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD 

to put this, it seems to me so perfectly evident. 
If Christianity were a little thing, it would die 
under the conditions that exist in this age of 
great big enterprises, and if we make it a little 
thing it will die. The only hope we have to 
make Christianity a conquering power is to 
make it a great big enterprise that will chal- 
lenge the respect of the men who are doing big 
things in the world. Christianity has not got 
this note of universality from modern condi- 
tions, because it is the spirit of the age to speak 
of the ends -of the earth ; it has been the spirit 
of Christianity from the beginning. And you 
men who are ready to fall down before every- 
thing that is great in spirit and talk about the 
greatness of this age because of its worldwide 
interest, fall down first of all before Jesus 
Christ, whose love reached out to all humanity, 
and who encompassed the world in His purpose 
of blessing with an eagerness which, if we only 
recognize, would fill us with a devotion to Him 
that would make us do His bidding, whatever it 
cost. When governments are seeking their 
spheres of action, of influence, in foreign lands, 
and business men are talking of foreign trade, 
if we Christians cannot talk about foreign mis- 
sions soon there will be nobody to listen to us. 
Men are not going to respect us in this age if 
our business as Christians is not big enough to 
include the whole world. What I want to em- 
phasize is this. This has been the spirit of 
Christianity from the beginning. The only 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 343 

Christ we know is the Christ who said He was 
the Son of Man, and who ignored all national 
barriers, all racial distinctions, in His mission 
to humanity. The only Christ we know is the 
Christ who told of the Father of all mankind, 
not of the Jews only nor of any group of men. 
The only Christ we know, my brothers, is the 
Christ who died for all men, and if you can 
accept a type of Christianity as yours that does 
represent worldwide interest and desire to bless 
all humanity, you are accepting a type of relig- 
ion that is indeed Christianity. There is but 
one Christ. He is the Christ who died for the 
world. There is but one Christian Church, and 
that is the Church that is living for the world. 
"What kind of a church have you? A church 
which pays its own expenses pretty fairly, and 
if it comes out with a small balance, congratu- 
lates itself on a most prosperous year? Is that 
your kind of a church, and do you call it a 
Christian church? Is the emphasis which you 
put in your thought upon the world or upon 
your own congregation? Is any church a Chris- 
tian church that does not have somewhere dis- 
played about it these words, "This church ex- 
ists for those outside of it?" Is any church a 
Christian church that spends ten, fifteen, twenty 
thousand dollars for itself in a year and gives 
ten or fifteen hundred only for Christ's work in 
the world? It is time we learned the thing that 
is distinctively Christian, and that is service; 
and time that we understand that no church 



344 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

is worthy the name of Christ that does not bear 
upon its heart the burden of the world's needs. 
That is what this new movement of men means. 
I have been longer than I should. I want to 
say a word in conclusion. At the first session 
of the great Edinburgh Conference, Lord Bal- 
four stood up after the devotional services and 
said, with great impressiveness, "I am the 
bearer of a message from the King;" and then 
he delivered that most gracious message of His 
Majesty, King George, congratulating the con- 
ference in meeting in one of the capitals of the 
Kingdom, and so on — a message which made a 
profound impression. I stand before you today 
with no title of lordship, but I am the bearer of 
a message from the King, the real King. It 
is a message of sympathy, a message of con- 
gratulation, a message of love for you; for it 
is the message of a King and it ends with a com- 
mand: "Go ye, my subjects, into all the world 
in my name and preach my gospel to every 
creature. I am with you always: I am with 
you only as ye go." 



THE MISSIONARY APPEAL 

BY KEV. A. W. HALSEY, D.D., NEW YOKK. 

The subject assigned me is "The Missionary 
Appeal." Let me change it to read "The Mis- 
sionary Appeal to Presbyterian Men." The 
content of the Missionary Appeal is the same 
for all ages. It is the appeal of the missionary. 
The accent of the appeal varies with the point 
of view, with the personality of the missionary, 
with the providential openings of each succeed- 
ing century. When the far-sighted seer, in 
vision clear, saw Him whose name was to be 
called "Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the in- 
crease of whose government and peace there 
should be no end," heard the summons, "Whom 
shall I send and who will go for me?" he re- 
plied, "Here am I; send me." One greater 
than Isaiah gave us the full meaning of the 
missionary appeal in the wondrous statement, 
"As the Father hath sent me into the world, 
even so have I sent you into the world." The 
greatest of the apostles said, "Unto me, who 
am less than the least of all saints, is this grace 
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles 
the unsearchable riches of Christ." 

345 



346 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

William Carey, in his little shoe shop, with 
telescopic vision seeing the lost world, gave the 
missionary appeal in his wondrous message, 
"Expect great things from God; attempt great 
things for God." His successor, David Living- 
stone, had caught the accent of Carey when he 
said, "I must open up Africa or perish." He 
perished. Africa is open. The world is open. 
This is the problem before the Presbyterian 
men today, "How can the opened world be 
reached ? ' ' 

Here lies the emphasis: 

First: We have a united Presbyterian army 
on the far-flung battle line of missions. Abroad 
we are one ; it is not so in the home land. You 
can stand on either side of the Eio Grande 
River; on one side you have a noble band of 
Presbyterian men and women often competing 
with each other; on the other side you have 
your Presbyterians all united in one organiza- 
tion. At the last meeting of our Board of For- 
eign Missions, the Mexican Mission requested 
the Board to give its approval to an action of 
the Mission, whereby the Mission agreed to 
send the boys from the Presbyterian Churches 
under the care of the missionaries of our Board 
to the Graybill School, which is under the care 
of the missionaries of the Southern Presby- 
terian Board, on condition that the mission- 
aries of the Southern Presbyterian Board 
should send their girls to the school at Saltillo, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 347 

which is under the care of the missionaries of 
the Northern Presbyterian Church. 

In Brazil there is one General Assembly com- 
posed of Presbyterians representing churches 
of both the Northern and Southern branches of 
our Presbyterian faith and order. The Church 
of Christ in Japan is a group of Presbyterian 
and Reformed Churches united under the name 
of the Church of Christ in Japan. In Korea, 
the Australian, the Canadian, the Southern and 
the Northern Presbyterian Churches are united 
in one Presbytery. In China there are not less 
than sixteen branches of the Presbyterian 
Church — Irish, English, Canadian, all forming 
one Chinese Presbyterian Church. I make bold 
to assert that there is practically not a single 
Presbyterian organization at work in foreign 
lands competing with any other Presbyterian 
organization. There is even broader church 
union than the denominational one. We are 
united by federation, or by various forms of 
co-operation with nearly every other large mis- 
sionaiy board at work in the territory where 
the missions of the Presbyterian Church are 
located. It was one of our own Presbyterian 
missionaries who proposed the evangelical 
union in the Philippines — a union that has 
been most richly blessed, practically all the 
denominations co-operating, not competing. In 
ten years, fifty thousands Christians in the 
various Protestant Churches, and a spirit of 



348 THE PRESBYTEEIAX BKOTHEBHOOD 

unity, harmony and aggressive cooperation 
worthy of all praise. 

In China, Presbyterians are united with the 
Disciples, with English Baptists, with Ameri- 
can and English Congregationalists, with Meth- 
odists, with Anglicans, and with others. 

The Christian Church has long recognized 
that the missionary is faithful, self-sacrificing, 
and willing to do and dare for his Master. A 
good many men, however, have questioned the 
efficiency of the missionary work because of 
waste through competition. The missionary 
appeal has its accent to the Presbyterian 
Brotherhood today, because on the foreign field 
the Presbyterian Church is in the forefront of 
the churches of the world in pleading for unity 
and every form of co-operation and joint action 
which will lead to greater efficiency. 

Second : On the foreign field there is a united, 
militant, aggressive Spirit-filled Church of 
Christ. We are accustomed to think that the 
work abroad is all done by the missionary. The 
best work in foreign lands in the past few years 
has been done by the native Christian Church. 
Christianity has become naturalized. A few 
years ago we were told, especially in China, that 
the Christian religion was the religion of for- 
eigners. This is no longer true ; the Gospel has 
become indigenous. Innumerable illustrations 
in recent mission literature can be given as evi- 
dence of this fact. Last fall, a group of Chinese 
Christians at Koo Chow, China, sent a letter 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 349 

to the Board. Twenty years ago the Board 
established the mission in South China; now 
a group of Christians at their own initiative 
send a letter to the Board, from which I give a 
short quotation: 

' ' All the world is one family. The Saviour has proclaimed 
the Gospel to all the world alike. The manner in which you 
have expressed God's love and Christ's beautiful teaching, not 
discriminating between China and the West, truly is becoming 
to disciples of Christ. Since you have manifested this gracious 
heart toward us, we truly must without limit tender thanks to 
you. We are constrained at the earliest date possible to write 
you of our heart's gratitude. To write even is not becoming; 
we should in person thank you, bearing our respects; hence 
we are ashamed. 

"We greet all the brethren and sisters with peace, praying 
the Heavenly Father's blessing be upon you. " 

Think of a group of Chinese Christians, hard- 
ly out of the darkness of their non-Christian 
faith, beginning a letter with the statement, 
"All the world is one family!" 

There are Presbyterian men, possibly some 
of them before me today, who have not yet 
learned that "all the world is one family." 

An even more significant illustration of the 
development of the native church is found in a 
letter sent last October by the Church of Christ 
in Japan to the Presbyterian Church in Korea. 
We all know how vigorous and intense has been 
the strife between Korea and Japan. We know 
something of what it means for one great nation 
to attempt to rule over another. Bearing this 
fact in mind, think of the Japanese Christian 
Church sending to the Korean Church a letter, 
from which I quote : 



350 THE PRESBYTERIAN BEOTHERHOOD 

Tokio, October — , 1910. 
To the Presbyterian Church in Korea, 

Dear Brethren: The Synod of the Church of Christ in 
Japan, at its recent meeting near the city of Osaka, appointed 
us to write to you a letter expressing its most cordial greetings. 

The Presbyterian Church in Korea and the Church of Christ 
in Japan are sister churches, bound together by a common 
faith and order. In a peculiar sense, therefore, your joys are 
our joys and your griefs our griefs. 

We render unfeigned thanks to God, the Father, that He 
has revealed His Son to so many thousands of you. We 
rejoice to hear of your zeal in making known the Gospel of 
Christ. We sympathize with you in your many difficulties and 
trials; and we pray that your faith and patience and joy and 
love may abound yet more and more. May you be as trees 
filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are through 
Jesus Christ. 

This letter will be delivered to you by the Rev. Shiroshi Tada 
and the Rev. Rempie Minami. These brethren beloved are 
ministers of the Church of Christ in Japan, and they have 
been appointed by the Synod to convey to you its greetings. 
They will tell you of its earnest desire that this may be but 
the beginning of a fellowship in Christ that shall ever grow 
closer and closer. 

For the Synod of the Church of Christ in Japan. 

K. Ibuka. 

K. KlYAMA. 

We know how powerful racial and sectional 
prejudices are in the world. Our two great 
Presbyterian churches, North and South, fifty 
years after the Civil War, have not yet been 
able to unite. Many of the high-bred Japanese 
look down on the Koreans as an inferior race. 
Think of the transforming power of the Gospel 
that would lead the Christian Japanese to write 
the letter which I have quoted to the Christian 
Koreans. We have a right to make an appeal 
to the Presbyterian men because of the Chris- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 351 

tian virility of the men across the sea, who are 
the fine fruit of our missionary propaganda. 

We listened last evening to an address by a 
distinguished statesman, who said he was not 
a student of theology. Let me give you a bit 
of an address from one who was not a states- 
man, nor a student of theology, but whose teach- 
ings are remarkably in accord with those of the 
distinguished gentleman who spoke so elo- 
quently and forcefully last evening. A poor 
Korean colporteur, named Kim, in speaking of 
the need of the Holy Spirit, said : 

"Bight here in this town I knew a gambler 
who lost all he had, and to break himself of 
gambling he cut off the thumb with which he 
drew out his cards. With his hand tied up, he 
hung around the gambling rooms, watching the 
others. By the time he had his bandage off he 
was sitting among his old friends, drawing out 
his cards with his first and second fingers. That 
was because he had not believed and received 
the Holy Spirit. When the spirit is in a man's 
heart the evil spirit opens the door of his heart 
a little crack, looks in, sees the Holy Spirit 
and runs away as fast as he can." 

There is not a man listening to me at this 
hour but who knows that the whole battle of 
life, the question of temptation, the problem 
whether you will conquer sin or not, lies in the 
crude but truthful statement of this Korean 
colporteur, that when the Holy Spirit is in the 



352 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

heart of a man, the evil spirit looks in and 
runs away. 

A good test of development in the Christian 
life, as we all know, is the financial test. Your 
fellow-Christians in the churches under care of 
the Board in non-Christian lands gave last year 
over $400,000 for various educational, religious 
and philanthropic purposes in connection with 
the work of the Church. This should be multi- 
plied by at least ten, if we wish to have an 
adequate basis of comparison with our gifts 
in the home land, for wages in the lands where 
your fellow Christians live will average about 
fifteen cents a day, and $1.50 a day is not a high 
average for our entire country. After making 
due allowance for a part of the above sum which 
may have been given by non-Christian persons 
for benefits received educationally, or from the 
medical missionaries, there still remains the 
fact that while the Church at home raised about 
$1,500,000 for Foreign Missions, the Church 
abroad gave what would be equivalent to 
$3,000,000. 

Sometimes I hear a business man speak of 
the high cost of administration of the work of 
Foreign Missions. I submit that to the $1,500,- 
000 raised on the home field must be added the 
$3,000,000 or more raised on the foreign field, 
if we are to calculate cost of administration on 
the per cent basis. The strength of Christian 
character, however, is the point of emphasis. I 
bring before you the simple fact that your fellow 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 353 

Christians in that Spirit-filled church abroad 
contributed last year practically twice the 
amount given in the home land for the existence 
of the Kingdom abroad. 

The spiritual life of the native church is mani- 
fested in many ways. The day before I left 
New York a letter came from Africa. In it was 
a letter written by a poor Christian, a Bulu, in 
the heart of the Kamerun country, German 
West Africa. It is written to his teacher. It 
reads as follows: 

"I desire you to think of the people in the Beni tribe, 
because they have no person to tell them of the Word of 
God. ; ' 

I submit to you men that this poor Bulu, who 
yesterday was in the depth of African darkness 
and superstition, but now has so far advanced 
in his Christian life that he wishes men of an- 
other tribe to hear the Word of God, has cer- 
tainly attained to great things in the spiritual 
life. I know men in the home land who have 
no such view of the Gospel. 

Last year in Korea they had a campaign in 
which the slogan was a million souls for Christ. 
Twenty-five years ago not a Christian in Korea ; 
today, a great campaign in which more than a 
million copies of the Gospel of Mark are either 
sold or given away; banners are hung across 
the street, on which is inscribed the marvelous 
verse, John 3 :16. Here is evidence of great 
spiritual life. 

The missionary appeal to men is based on 



354 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the virility, the generosity, the spirituality, the 
broadminded view of the men who have been 
brought to Jesus Christ by the preaching of the 
Gospel through the word and work of our mis- 
sionaries. 

Third: — We have a great appeal to men in 
the fact that the Gospel is for the whole man. 
Never was a greater misstatement than that the 
Gospel appeal is only for the life that is to 
come. This statement was never true in the 
home land ; it is not true in mission lands today. 

If we look on the non-Christian world, we see 
it is a sick world, it is a deaf world, it is a 
blind world, it is a sinful world; and the mis- 
sionary seeing this is led like his Master to re- 
lieve this great ignorant, blind, deaf, weary, sin- 
sick world. In the past few weeks the treasurer 
of our Board has sent by cable many thousands 
of dollars for the poor sufferers in North China 
who are dying by the hundreds and thousands 
of famine. But this is no new story. John Liv- 
ingstone Nevius, that great missionary to the 
Chinese people forty years ago, was a leader in 
the distribution of famine relief. John Living- 
stone Nevius was a great translator, a great 
preacher, a man of wonderful spiritual power, 
yet he spent many long and weary months in 
distributing relief to sufferers by famine. 
Today, if you go to northern China, you will 
find fruits and vegetables growing in luxuriance, 
the seeds of which were brought by this far- 
sighted missionary. He looked at the things 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 355 

unseen, but he had an eye for the things seen. 
He is a typical representative of the whole mis- 
sionary army. 

Not long ago we bade farewell to Dr. Wan- 
less, who went back to Miraj, India. In a single 
year, in hospital and dispensary, he and his as- 
sistants treated not less than 30,000 patients, 
coming from 800 districts. Every one of these 
patients heard the Word of God and went away 
with some passage of the Word of God in their 
hands. So efficient is the work of this one mis- 
sionary that last year the Maharajah of Kol- 
hapur, through the influence of Dr. Wanless, 
gave to the Board a hospital for women, the 
entire expense being borne by this Hindu ruler. 
Yet Dr. Wanless is only one of a hundred men 
and women physicians under the care of our 
Board, who last year were instrumental in treat- 
ing more than 500,000 patients. Think of what 
it means to treat in non-Christian lands a half 
million people, relieving them from pain, bring- 
ing joy where there was sorrow, and cheer 
where there was gloom. This medical work is 
closely related to the spiritual. At Soochow, 
China, last October, there was brought to the 
hospital a woman with her body badly burned. 
She was the keeper of a house of ill fame. She 
said to the doctor : "I will not go into the hos- 
pital.'' "Why not?" said the missionary phy- 
sician, a godly woman, who loved the Chinese, 
"Why not?" The poor, burned woman replied; 
"the evil fire spirit would go in and destroy 



356 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

your hospital as it has my house. " "Oh, no," 
said the doctor, "come in; we are not afraid of 
the evil fire spirit." She came. She was healed 
in body. She found Christ. She led her hus- 
band to Christ and then together they started 
to save the poor girls, many of whom before 
she had helped to draw down into the pit of 
death. 

If time permitted I could tell you of a won- 
derful work among lepers. I could show you 
home after home where orphan or famine chil- 
dren are cared for. I could tell you of great 
philanthropic and humanitarian work where 
blessings for the life that now is are indis- 
solubly linked with blessings of the life which is 
to come. 

The Oriental is ignorant. We have an igno- 
rant world to deal with in non-Christian lands. 
Have you any conception of the vast educational 
work which your own Board is doing? Ten 
colleges and universities; ten seminaries; six 
schools of medicine; five nurses' training 
schools ; fourteen industrial establishments ; 
1,800 day schools; ninety boarding and high 
schools — in every one of which the Word of 
God is taught, and the influence of the lives of 
the Christ-filled men and women is daily felt. 
Last year the entire cost per scholar was only 
$2.53. The Orient is going to school. A few 
years ago the Mikado of Japan declared that 
he did not want a single village with an ignorant 
family, or a single family with an ignorant mem- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 357 

ber. Today 96 per cent of the school population 
in Japan are in school. In 1898 the Chinese 
Emperor issued an edict that every boy over 
eight years of age must go to school. In ten 
years, if that edict is carried out, there will be 
45,000,000 pupils in school in China. Some 40,- 
000 schools have sprung up in the last few years. 
The head of the educational system in Turkey 
declared a few months ago that by the end of 
1911 there would be 65,000 elementary schools 
in the Turkish Empire. 

In India only a very small percentage of the 
women and a very limited percentage of the men 
can read. Yet India is awake and going to 
school. The whole Orient is going to school, but 
to whom? Think of the possibilities for weal 
or for woe of 800,000,000 people passing through 
a great renaissance and being eager for all new 
knowledge. This is the opportunity of the mis- 
sionary. Education alone will not suffice. It 
was not a distinguished theologian, it was not 
even a Christian statesman, but a great Japa- 
nese, Count Okuma, who recently in a public 
address declared, " Every one knows that the 
origin of modern civilization is to be found in 
the Sage of Judea, by whom alone the moral 
dynamic is supplied." Japan is facing the 
question of morals and ethics. Africa is facing 
the question of morals and ethics. The Orient 
is facing the question of morals and ethics. 
Who is to be the teacher? 

We propose to ask the church for $5,000,000 



358 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

and equipment fund for the greatest educational 
work that the Presbyterian Church is now ac- 
complishing. Surely this is an appeal to men 
who believe ' i that education without religion is 
the world's expedient for converting farthings 
into guineas by scouring." If the Orient is to 
be saved, it must be saved by the Gospel. 

The appeal of the missionary is an appeal to 
the whole world. The unoccupied fields of the 
world are calling to us. Dr. Dodd, of the Laos 
Mission, has recently returned from a long trip 
taken from Chiang Eai through Laos, through 
Southern China. He found 16,000,000 people 
of the Laos or Tai race in this vast territory 
unoccupied by any Protestant missionary. He 
traveled 1,000 miles without seeing a mission- 
ary. The Presbyterian Church has a definite 
responsibility for the evangelization of this 
great people. We are responsible for millions 
in North Persia, in India, in China. One hun- 
dred million people in the non-Christian world 
represent the work which we have to do in world 
evangelization. Last night we sang "My 
Country 'tis of Thee " ; we did not sing the ad- 
ditional stanzas written by our own poet- 
preacher, Henry Van Dyke. Let me give you 
one of his stanzas : — 

li l love thy silver Eastern strands, 
Thy golden gate that stands 

Fronting the West, 
Thy flowery Southland fair, 
Thy sweet and fragrant air; 
O land beyond compare, 

Thee I love best." 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 359 

Dr. Van Dyke had to add the new stanzas to 
Francis Smith's poem "America," since it was 
written for an "America" that was practically 
New England. The poet of tomorrow must add 
still other stanzas which will go out beyond the 
Pacific. 

Forty years ago I stood in the old church of 
my father's, and confessed Jesus Christ. To- 
day, after years of study and travel and much 
thought, I renew my confession. It is simple, 
it is in the words of St. John. I pray it may be 
your creed and your confession: — "In Him is 
life, and the life is the light of men." 



CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 

BY GOVEKNOE CHASE S. OSBORN, LANSING, MICH. 

Mr. President and Brothers : — I am here be- 
cause I want to be here. It seems to me a 
work of this character ought to mean a great 
deal to all our country and the Christian, not 
only to-day, but for all time to come. So many 
people coming here from very important en- 
gagements, means that laymen are coming to a 
fuller realization and finer conception of our 
duties as Christian citizens. 

That you may judge a little of my right to 
speak on this subject, I may say, within mod- 
esty, that I have visited every Christian coun- 
try in the world and every non-Christian 
country that has its own autonomy, including 
even the little Balkan States, where the fric- 
tion has been so great between Mohammedan- 
ism and Christianity; and little San Marino 
in the heart of the Appenines, where there has 
been a little Christian republic only six miles 
square, sustained by its Christian zeal and pur- 
pose since the days of Christ Himself. I think 
I have seen enough of the Christian civilization 
of the world, and of what has made for its 
perpetuation and endurance, to know some- 

360 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 361 

thing of it, — not as much as I wish to know, 
but enough to thank God for it and to know 
that it is doing more for the world than any 
other influence. When we consider that the 
banners of Christianity are being floated by 
four and one-half hundred millions of the in- 
habitants of the world; that Brahminism has 
three hundred millions, and Buddhism six hun- 
dred millions, and the Mohammedans between 
three and four hundred millions, three civili- 
zations as great as the Christian in point of 
numbers, we come to realize that we are com- 
peting in this world for the good we may be 
able to do. And if we have such gatherings 
as this over the country from time to time, 
we are going to be better able to compete. I 
only wish that we as Presbyterians might put 
Brotherhoods all over the world; not confined 
to North America, as your resolutions express 
it, but all over the world, in order that all 
peoples might know the sweet and delightful 
effect and inspiration of the finest form of 
Christianity. This is the work we are to do, 
and we must keep on endeavoring if we are 
to break over the sky-line of Christianity and 
widen the horizon of the greatest influence the 
world has ever seen. 

Ever since the first days of Brahma (who 
in a sense symbolizes the Good Father), since 
the dawn of history, darkened and shadowed 
in the nebulous mists of theology and mysti- 
cism and legends, the followers of Brahma 



362 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

have never had anything more to do in the 
world but just to live in order to die. They 
have not known the song of the brain; they 
have not known the fine liberties and the high 
ambitions that go with Christianity. We see 
in India among the various castes no relation- 
ship, no correlation, no brotherhood, no deep 
sympathy whatever. The myth that arose rep- 
resents Siddartha leaving his father, the en- 
vironment of luxury, his regal palace, to go 
into seclusion in an endeavor to discover some- 
thing that would help the people ; and after a 
number of years he emerged from seclusion 
and announced to the world five hundred years 
before Christ that he had discovered the great 
truth and solved the impenetrable mystery. 
His solution was that all the wrong and sin 
in the world comes from selfishness, and there 
is a good deal of truth in that ; but he brought 
no cure for selfishness. 

Then there is Buddhism with its six hundred 
millions, and you may go to their temples, in 
some places where Christian missionaries have 
worked and sometimes have died, as in the mas- 
sacre of Pao-ting-fu, and see such names as 
that of Marco Polo as a god ; or any other that 
may appeal to their superstition ; with no rela- 
tion to the needs of the people whatever; and 
that religion has come to be just as false as 
the belief in Brahminism, with its four thou- 
sand Vedas appealing only to the intellect; 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION <>,63 

and yet Buddhism and Brahminism are doing 
absolutely nothing for the world. 

Then we come to another great civilization, 
and I suppose it may be considered a fact that 
civilizations are no more than the reflections 
or repetition of the dominant contemporary 
religion. The contemporary religion of that 
civilization is Mohammedanism, it being six 
hundreds years after the Nazarene when Mo- 
hammed undertook a revival of religion which 
should fill all the world with reward and sensual 
delights. He promised to his people, physic- 
ally and spiritually, the reward that if they 
were good Mohammedans they might have a 
loaf of bread as big as the world, and an appe- 
tite to eat it, and for dessert three hundred 
dishes in plates of gold, and the last one should 
taste just as well as the first. Also they should 
live by singing fountains and where birds 
carolled blithely, and everything should be free 
and soft and relaxing. That is in reality the 
religion of Mohammed, and it is followed by 
four hundred millions or more ; and they storm 
the cannon's mouth in their fanaticism. 

Confucius, three hundred years before 
Christ, sought to teach in an ethical way, ap- 
pealing to the mind. His law states one of 
the eternal verities, something almost the same 
as our Golden Eule, "Do not unto others as 
you would not have others do unto you"; but 
Confucius left out something and his rule did 
not and would not satisfy. 



364 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

In Japan, Shintoism has been declared the 
official religion, and it is doing no more for 
that country than the others. The worship of 
ancestors, it is true, ennobles human life, but 
makes nothing for hope, nothing that goes for 
salvation as the Christian people understand 
salvation, and nothing for the improvement or 
uplift of the people in the land. A million 
women in that land have worked today from 
morning to night without food. 

So I have endeavored to compare, in a cursory 
way, the other civilizations of the world with 
those of Christianity, and it seems to me as I 
stated at first — that those peoples who have 
the God-given privilege to live under a Chris- 
tian civilization, ought to be devoutly thankful 
every moment of their waking lives. Men ought 
to come from all over America to meetings like 
this, to help the work and needs of Christianity, 
because we have nothing left to interpret Chris- 
tianity and apply it and make it meaningful 
except the Church. They have taken the Bible 
out of the schools; the teaching of the Chris- 
tian religion out of the common places of life ; 
it is left to the Church to perpetuate religion. 

I believe the Church is equal to this great 
work ; I believe that we owe to the Church this 
great politico - moral recrudescence we have 
seen in these past five or ten years ; a new idea 
of Brotherhood in religion. Not only the Chris- 
tian spirit which makes you and me come to- 
gether and worship, but the Christian spirit 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 365 

that fills the heart with love, for it is a fact 
that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. 
We must do the things we think in our hearts. 
In our country, the states themselves are taking 
over the problem of doing for the weaker 
brother, in recognizing in a public and organ- 
ized way that we are in reality our brother's 
keeper. Because of that, we are proposing in 
many states to legislate that there shall be ade- 
quate workingman's compensation in case of 
injury, and in some cases, as in Christian Ger- 
many, we are going to take care of our old 
men and women who work ; just as humane men 
take care of old, pensioned horses. In the 
yesterdays, man found expression for the kind- 
ness of his heart in a patting on the head of a 
dog, or in the caress upon the neck of a horse; 
and if his horse became lame, he had him cared 
for and more perfectly shod, or sent for the 
best veterinary, and, if possible, stabled him 
and fed him on balanced rations. But in the 
yesterdays, the men who worked were stabled, 
if you will permit the crude expression, as they 
might stable themselves. They were not looked 
after. The employer rarely knew whether the 
man's little ones were ill at home, or whether 
his wife was being overworked, or whether he 
was living in a suitable place or not. Oh, there 
was not the human touch of love and brother- 
hood between the employer and the employees 
that there should have been, and because of 
that fact, and because Christian preachers and 



366 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Christian men have been teaching the doctrine 
of Christian brotherhood and the love of 
humanity, there has come an influence over this 
land that is going to make for better things all 
the time. In that regard I believe the people 
are taking these things as seriously in a polit- 
ical as in a private way. Everywhere, in Chi- 
cago, St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, Pitts- 
burgh, Detroit, you will see men looking to the 
welfare of their workingmen; and this for two 
purposes. They know it will pay them econom- 
ically from a financial standpoint to look after 
them ; and, again, as I want to think, the Chris- 
tian spirit is awakening in them, and the real, 
effective, practical day of Brotherhood is soon 
to dawn all over our land. 

When I have compared Christianity in this 
country with Christianity down on the plains 
of Armenia, or in Greek-Christian Eussia, or 
some of the other countries of Europe, I hope 
it is not vanity but only understanding that 
leads me sometimes to think that the God of 
Heaven, who sent the Christ, really has chosen 
the American people to be the torch-bearers of 
Christianity to all the world. Because in this 
fair land where liberty inspires hope and hope 
brightens into the best endeavor we find the 
highest and best expression of Christianity. 
Here Christianity has come to mean more in 
reality than anywhere else in the world. It 
is not perfect yet even here; the day of the 
superman has not come; but we are on the 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 367 

road, my friends, we are on the road. When 
we consider how our ancestors crouched in the 
caves ages ago, and mark and measure the im- 
provements from then to now, to-morrow is 
full of Christian hope. We are to accomplish ; 
we are to achieve ; we are to be strong ; under 
the fiery tongue of criticism we are to be faith- 
ful and true ; and you who are social and com- 
munity leaders, it is for you to show all about 
you what it means in a practical way to be a 
Christian. It is not enough to go to church 
or to Brotherhood meetings, or to give out of 
your purses. It means that you shall in reality 
love your brother and help him every day ; and 
we do not need to go off in the vague some- 
where to find opportunity to be Christian men 
and women ; we can find the opportunity every 
single day in our attitude toward the people 
about us, in our relationship to our servants 
and those who come near to us every day. I 
believe the time will come when we will not 
ask a servant to do what we will not do our- 
selves; when we will give to those who serve 
all the comforts of life. I think you all realize 
that when the Creator made mankind, He gave 
him his senses, and sugar tastes just as sweet 
to the poor man as to the rich man. Let us 
divide the sugar fairly. 

I am moved to tell you why I became a can- 
didate for Governor of Michigan. I did not 
talk politics once, though I made a thousand 
and fifty-seven speeches or addresses. But after 



368 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

having gone through China, taking my good 
wife farther than any white woman and farther 
than any missionary had been, after seeing the 
woe of that land, and after being in some of 
the Eoman Catholic South American countries 
in the fastnesses of the Amazon, and in India 
among the millions starving, I came back with 
my heart full, thanking God that there was an 
America with all the Christian civilization that 
surrounds us here. So I wanted to go out and 
talk citizenship without any regard to partisan- 
ship whatever, and I think I talked as much 
Christianity as citizenship in the abstract ; and 
that is one of the things that we ought to do. 
I believe the man who addressed you last night, 
Hon. William Jennings Bryan, is greater to-day 
as a preacher than he ever was as a politician. 
I say, strength to his voice and clarity to his 
mind, for no matter whether he may have fol- 
lowed a false god in politics, he is following 
the real God in his religion. I say that in a 
non-political way as one who admires him as a 
man. I wish I could have heard him last night ; 
I would have liked to compare notes with him. 
I visited Tolstoi when he was giving out those 
sparks of Christian brotherhood, some of which 
are quoted in the bulletin issued by this brother- 
hood which I received yesterday. The whole 
note of our Christian civilization, the thing that 
makes it sublime, makes it potential, makes it 
in everything supreme to the old or present- 
day civilizations or the religions of the other 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 369 

parts of the world, is that one thing of love. 
That will cure the selfishness of the Brahmin, 
of the Buddhist, of the Mohammedan. And 
then you add to love that which makes the 
Christian not only revere the Teacher of Naza- 
reth, but makes him look to God on high for 
his discipline, for his direction, for his care 
and providence in every way ; and just there in 
that sublime belief in God and in heart-felt, 
soulful love to Him, you find the great supe- 
riority, the real reason of the strength and 
vitality of Christianity and our Christian civi- 
lization as compared with any other civilization 
or any other pretended religion in the world. 



CLOSING MESSAGES OF 
THE CONVENTION 



HAEVESTING THE EESULTS OF THE 
CONVENTION 



wm 



By Nolan Eice Best, New York 



Friends of the Brotherhood: — One can 
imagine that the committee constructing this 
program came to this place in its work with a 
certain feeling of doubt and anxiety, a feeling 
which perhaps is reflected in all our minds this 
afternoon. We have been enjoying the exceed- 
ing rich privileges of these days that we have 
been sitting here together ; our hearts have been 
stirred with a new understanding of problems 
of the kingdom, with a new desire to prove our- 
selves good soldiers of Jesus Christ. But the 
thing that is creeping over us this afternoon 
with a suggestion of doubt and fear, is the dread 
that some place between this house and our own 
homes the force of intention which is now stir- 
ring in our lives will be dissipated and pass 
away. 

We have had that experience in conventions 
before. We climbed high up the mountains and 
caught the sunshine of the upper skies and 
breathed the air of a stronger spiritual purpose 
than we had breathed before ; and yet when we 
came down, in the valley again, to our own grief 

373 



374 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

and chagrin, we found ourselves unable to cast 
out the devils of the life around us. This after- 
noon, we are trembling with the fear that this 
experience will be ours again. There are men 
who on this very account have decided that con- 
ventions are dangerous, or at least not worth 
while. They have begun to complain that these 
conventions stir men's emotions too much; and 
the reaction from their intensity of experience 
breaks down life rather than building it up. So 
some men are saying they will not go to con- 
ventions any more, and other men are coming 
in fear and going away in trembling. 

But we are mistaken, men, when we say that 
it is the emotion that does the harm. So far 
from having too much emotion in our lives, all 
of us have too little. God forbid that we should 
be willing to be but partial men on that side — 
men who have never known the thrill and stir of 
an appeal to our loyalty and love; men who 
have never known what it is to be challenged 
by a great enthusiasm. Let us thank God for 
the emotion. But if we want to harvest results 
from the great experiences of these days, we 
must bring up the other resources of our per- 
sonality and fortify ourselves in this moment 
in the new life and on the new levels of life to 
which we have risen here. If winged horses 
have dragged our chariots to a higher height, 
God gives us brakes for the wheels to keep 
them from rolling down hill again. There are 
other factors of personality which, after emo- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 375 

tions have been stirred, we must call into ac- 
count for God's service — our wills and our pow- 
ers of thinking. These we need this afternoon 
— need to hold us at the high level of our emo- 
tions. 

Back in our homes tomorrow and the day 
after, we will not feel the strong sweep of this 
emotional hour which nerves us today to high 
living. Our fellowship here will not be repro- 
duced when we get back to the comparative lone- 
someness of our homes. Then the thrill we 
feel here will no longer support us. But good 
strong Christian determination can save the 
purpose which has lifted us so high, and the 
purpose is our clear gain. We can go home de- 
termined we will not slip back to former indif- 
ference. We can go home laying hold of the 
ideals of this convention, with grim determina- 
tion, with a tremendous will, to say that what 
ought to be done shall be done. This "will to 
do" is the great thing we must carry home. 

Perhaps some of us have been disappointed 
at the comparative paucity of methods here; 
perhaps you were disappointed that Mr. Fos- 
ter so totally denied the request from the floor 
for methods. Friends, in this age that brings 
everything ready-made to our hands, we want 
even our thinking ready-made. We neglect the 
intimate consideration for ourselves of the ele- 
ments of life that press upon us, and satisfy 
ourselves with other people's views. We call 
ourselves, with some dignity and even conceit. 



376 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

men of independent thought, but we are not. 
Let us determine we will not ask other men to 
think out questions for us. You have come 
here and had your full reward in a new present- 
ment of problems. You have no right to expect 
the problems solved. All that a man ought to 
ask from any convention is that a new electric- 
ity may be sent along the currents of his life to 
run his dynamo — not that he shall be connected 
up to some one else's dynamo. 

So the great benefit of the convention is that 
we are going back to our churches with our 
hearts quickened to see the things to be done. 
We must go back not to apply somebody else's 
method, but to study our own situation, and in 
God's name and by God's grace to work out 
His plan for our places. men, we have not 
enough faith in our own right to claim that 
promise, "If any man lack wisdom, he shall 
ask of God." What did our spiritual fore- 
fathers contend for in the Eeformation? Was 
it not to establish our right to go straight to 
God, past any priest or past any human inter- 
mediaries? Yet we are always asking our ex- 
perts to be intermediaries of God's methods. 
God knows we don't want any more conceit of 
our own ideals, any more conceit of ourselves ; 
we have already too much of that. But God 
knows we do need a more tremendous faith in 
the reality of our access, humbly but directly 
and actually, to His own wisdom. Let us go 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 377 

home and claim it; let us go home and ask 
God what His plan is for our place. 

How we have felt the importance of teaching 
the men in our community the Bible — practi- 
cally as it relates to twentieth century life! 
How we have felt the stress of promoting this 
Men and Eeligion Forward Movement in our 
towns ! How we have felt the absolute, the es- 
sential, importance of a personal evangelism, 
man to man ! How we have felt the importance 
of this as it touches the saving of the whole 
man ! How we have been stirred with the deter- 
mination to do something for the boys of the 
community! Now let us do it. In what fash- 
ion? By what method? Well, let us ask God! 
God has a revelation for us when we get home 
— how we shall do this thing, and who of us 
shall do which job. 

Some have feared that the tendency of the 
Brotherhood is too diffuse ; that we are trying 
to do too many things. Of course we must 
keep first things first. We must certainly in- 
sist that the spiritual message of Jesus Christ, 
whereby men are saved from temptation, lifted 
out of sin, brought into harmony with His life 
and identified with His being, is first and the 
main message of the Church. But we cannot 
compress the gospel into those terms alone — 
large and world-comprehensive as they are. 
They have a hundred corrolaries; they have 
scores of implications. So while we work in 
evangelism, and for this Men and Eeligion For- 



378 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

ward Movement, we shall surely have power 
besides to do the social service demanded of 
the Church ; we shall have strength left to take 
our part for civic purity and uprightness; we 
shall surely be able to pay our due attention to 
such problems as child labor, social vice, and 
industrial injustice; we shall answer to the 
whole of the great round circumference of the 
gospel message. 

Surely, this life that Jesus Christ brought 
into the world touches the whole world; it in- 
cludes all points ; it surveys the entire horizon, 
and responding to all its varied calls there are 
surely enough of us to face every way. More 
than that, God testifies to us that He has given 
us gifts differing. Not only the multiplicity of 
the needs of the world challenges us to do many 
things through our Brotherhood organization, 
but the multiplicity of the abilities that God has 
given us. There are men in your Brotherhood 
who can do this boys' work better than any one 
else ; put them at that. Another man can teach 
a Bible class; let us get him at it. What the 
Brotherhoods do in the line of civic purity is 
not an excuse for not having religion nor a 
substitute for spirituality ; it is simply the best 
outlet of Christian energy for a certain man or 
group of men in your Brotherhood who are bet- 
ter adapted to that labor than anything else. 
There are men in your Brotherhood whose busi- 
ness, because their aptitude, is to go out among 
the poor and lonely and brother them or to 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 379 

stand up in the community and fight for a jus- 
tice which will do righteousness to the weak, 
and bring the fair chance of life to the handi- 
capped. 

The Brotherhood is moving forward on a 
great line of battle, and we have enough men 
to man the whole battle line. There are plenty 
of us to fight the whole fight if we will all get 
in; to thrust forward not the right wing now, 
the left wing after a while ; but thrust forward 
left and right and center together and carry 
the whole fortress of evil at one grand rush. 
We can do it, each man in his place. 

men, let us try to rise to the greatness and 
the grandeur of the task that is before us. Let 
us not complain that it is multiplex. Let us 
thank God it is multiplex, so that it gives every 
man a chance to do his best in it. The Chris- 
tian army is so organized that in its advance, 
while men lead in their various places, doing 
their separate work, there is such a mystical 
union of the body of Christ that each can have 
and ought to have, the support, the backing and 
the momentum of all. 

God grant that we may take home with us the 
will to fulfil His will by the Christian grace of 
patience. How we fail here, men! Men say, 
"Our Bible class is a failure." "How long did 
you try it?" "Six months." Men say, "The 
Brotherhood won't work in our church; it went 
to pieces." " How long did you try it ? " "Three 
months." Men say, "We cannot do this boys' 



380 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BKOTHEKHOOD 

work ; the boys broke the windows in the church 
and made a riot, and we had to give it up." 
1 ' How long did you try it ? " " One meeting. ' ? 

Have you looked in the Bible to see the pa- 
tience that Jesus Christ and His apostles 
taught? John, when he described the Brother- 
hood of the Church, said he was partaker with 
the rest of the Church in "the tribulation and 
kingdom and patience which are in Jesus 
Christ.' ' Peter bade those to whom he wrote, 
to supply in their self-control patience; and 
James exhorted, "Let patience have her perfect 
work." Paul prayed that he and those whom 
be loved might be directed into the love of God 
and patience of Christ. And Christ Himself 
said: "In your patience you shall win your 
souls." And indeed in our patience we shall 
win the souls of our neighbors and win all our 
problems. 

Your will will carry you over. This conse- 
crated will will refuse defeat and go at it again 
three, four and five times. Sisyphus rolled his 
stone up hill interminably. Wiser than Sisy- 
phus, we may have the grace to roll the stone 
up in a little different place, and find a lodg- 
ment perhaps, and get the thing done at last; 
but we will not get it done with one trial or 
two. Everything that God puts before us to 
do we can accomplish; He never set anything 
impossible. We have got to keep on doing, and 
doing until He makes it come to pass. 

And another necessary grace is ambition. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 381 

You say that is the sin by which the angels fell. 
Yes, the ambition that wants its power for it- 
self. But the ambition which is unwilling to 
be less than it may be ; that ambition which in- 
sists, if G-od has given us a gift, on returning it 
to Him at the full value ; that ambition which, 
having a vision of one's own particular place 
in the world, then determines that that place 
shall be filled full; that ambition to be all we 
can be — God give us that ambition. Oh, for the 
men who will say, "Whatever I am, I will not 
be second-rate." 

And love — we know no will of ours will bring 
us into love. But will can hold us true to our 
task, and the task makes love. And when love 
has dominated all else, love will find a way. 
When you once have loved the boys in your 
town and loved the man in the gutter; when 
once you have loved the city in which you live ; 
then all tasks are accomplished and methods 
spring out of the ground. 

We are going home determined not to fail 
our Master. As we serve in a loyalty that by 
sheer will at first we hold ourselves fast to, 
love for Him begins to grip us and we must 
serve because we love; we must serve fully, 
because love takes us more and more, to make 
us love more fully. The ancient Mosaic statutes, 
as you know, recognize slavery. They had vari- 
ous methods of alleviating the curse of slavery, 
— that a slave must at the end of seven years 
have his chance of manumission. But a more 



382 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

wonderful thing is written in those statutes, — 
a recognition of the fact that slavery may some- 
times pass through love into the most exalted 
state a human being can attain to. For it is 
written in these statutes, that when the master 
gave his slave at the end of the seven years his 
liberty, the slave might refuse the manumis- 
sion because he had learned to love to serve 
under his master and realized that the best of 
life could come to him as he continued to do 
the will of the master whom he loved. And so 
it was provided that solemnly, as unto a sacra- 
ment, the slave might approach the tabernacle 
door and take his solemn vow, "I love my mas- 
ter, I will not go out free." 

men, may love lift us up to that slavery, 
that joy of slavery, which Paul felt when he 
boasted he was the bond-servant of Jesus Christ. 
Through us all may there thrill this afternoon 
the full meaning of these words, realized in our 
hearts as we look up to Jesus Christ, whose 
will commands our will, whose service is our 
joy, and whose master passion of salvation it 
is our greatest honor and blessing to help fulfil 
— may we look up to Him, and with all the 
solemnity of a sacrament at the door of the 
tabernacle, where the Shekinah is, may we be 
able to say this afternoon, "I love my Master; 
I will not go out free. I choose the perpetual 
service of Jesus Christ my Lord." 



THE FUTURE OF THE BROTHERHOOD 

BY WALTEE GETTY, CHICAGO, ILL. 



L, VXXlVilUU, 



It seems only right that a word should be 
given regarding the work of the Brotherhood 
during the coming months. I want to assure 
every man that immediately after this conven- 
tion the results of the convention will be fol- 
lowed up in a definite manner throughout the 
country. We plan during the next three or 
four months to institute a campaign which we 
trust will put the Brotherhood work on a defi- 
nite basis; especially are we anxious to link 
up the Brotherhood with the great Men and 
Religion Forward Movement, of which we have 
heard at this convention. During the months 
of March, April, May and June, we want to 
bring into line every Brotherhood in every local 
church, in every Presbyterial organization, and 
every Synodical organization. I want to ask 
tonight, as we leave this convention, that every 
man will go back to his church with the vision 
we have had these past days, with a determina- 
tion that he will do his part faithfully and well 
in doing the work in his church, upon which 
emphasis has been laid many times these days, 
to make it the success the Master would have 

383 



384= THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

*: » ifrift \ -*?§ y «* : fe- %€ ?; %^ ; : _. § S ^ IP 

him make it. I would ask that every church, 
every presbyterial and synodical center, would 
write to me at Chicago, suggesting a possible 
time when we might meet with you to put the 
work on a better basis, and follow up the work 
of this great convention in this large way. I 
ask that you let me know the times suitable for 
these meetings, so that working together we 
may be able to carry forward this work for the 
Master. 

This further thought. I know there is the 
thought upon our hearts as we think of the work 
that will be done in the coming month, that 
the work may be somewhat unsettled. Have we 
not received at this convention a vision of such 
power that our faith may become strengthened, 
so that we shall be faithful to God, rather than 
be concerned with the difficulties of the work? 
With His power upon us, we shall do our work 
well, wherever we are placed. As I look over 
this body of men, nine hundred or a thousand 
men, gathered in these meetings, and each man 
going out under the power of God, stimulated 
by the thoughts and impressions we have re- 
ceived here, with a vision of our Master before 
us, as we have had it so vividly today — these 
men going out in this way from this meeting, I 
tremble at the possibilities that are before the 
Presbyterian Brotherhood of America. Let us 
take this thought, that every man shall go out 
in surrender to his Master, to be faithful in 
the place where God has put him. Shall not we 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 385 

all, as we go out from this meeting, go back to 
our Brotherhoods with this same spirit of 
prayer, filled with the Spirit of the living God, 
as He has been so manifest in these meetings ; to 
carry out the lessons learned here ; to be faith- 
ful to our Lord and Master ? 

During the coming months we hope to push 
forward the work in no uncertain manner. Let 
us go back to our Brotherhoods throughout the 
country, resolved to make this year the best in 
our churches and communities of any year we 
have yet spent in His service. 



THE CONVEBSION OF POWER INTO 
WORK 

BY REV. JOHN DOUGLAS ADAM, D.D., 
EAST ORANGE, 1ST. J. 

Mr. President and Brothers: — I must ask 
you now to turn from the consideration of the 
larger themes so brilliantly spoken of tonight 
by the Governor of Michigan, to our more per- 
sonal relation to the work of God. 

I suppose there may be members of some of 
our families looking for a new accent of spirit- 
ual helpfulness in us when we return home. 
There may be some members of our families 
expecting to see a new something. God forbid 
that they should be disappointed. Perhaps our 
minister at home may be wondering, even at 
this moment, whether he may count upon us, 
when we return into that small inner circle of 
people in every church who have power in be- 
lieving, intercessory prayer. Whether he will 
really find us one of the vital forces in the inner 
circle for the bringing in of the kingdom of God. 
There are some people in all the churches in our 
local communities who are longing for the com- 
ing of some gracious, Spirit-possessed man who 
will bring a holy, brotherly fellowship into the 

386 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 387 

church life of the entire community where we 
live. And our country, in its genesis, is looking 
tonight for men who will bring more of the 
moral and spiritual underpinning to support the 
vast superstructure of our material bricks. Our 
country is looking tonight for men who, in their 
lives and in their homes, in their business, in 
their testimony, will spiritualize the ideals of 
success in the hearts and minds of our young 
men; looking for men who can think through 
the problems that need solution in this land that 
God meant to be the light of the world. I be- 
lieve that this is the only nation since the begin- 
ning of time that was born Christian ; the only 
nation that was cradled with the cradle songs of 
spiritual reality ; the nation which our fathers 
meant to say should be a spiritual democracy. 
And away beyond our own nation, in the dark 
world where superstition and fear has its tem- 
ple, man is calling for light upon the attitude 
of God, saying, "Does God care? Is God near? 
Is God approachable?" 

Yes, my brothers, from that boy lying sleep- 
less tonight in our home, wondering how he may 
receive the forgiveness of God, to the teeming 
millions who sit in the darkness and shadow of 
death, comes a challenge to this meeting. From 
the unit to the universal, from our own boy 
to the last man in the islands of the sea, there 
comes a challenge at this moment to your life. 
Will you meet it? 

We stand tonight where the Church stood at 



388 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Pentecost. We have the same problem, too; 
but, thank God ! we have the same power. The 
same Spirit that overshadowed and possessed 
that gathering in the upper room is here to- 
night. That is no poetic utterance; that is no 
hyperbolical statement, The Holy Ghost that 
was in the upper room is here, the same Spirit. 
The Spirit who converted Augustine and Bun- 
yan, the Spirit who was in the work of Wesley 
and Whitfield and Finney and Moody is here; 
and our problem now is this, as we turn our 
faces homeward tonight, how shall we link our- 
selves on with that mighty power which has 
achieved everything in the past? How shall 
we turn that power into use as we come into 
contact with the world in our own home town? 
That is the question tonight, brothers — no other 
question. How shall I link my life onto the 
power of God that has made Christendom what 
it is? How shall I go as a flaming energy back 
to my town tonight, and be what the Church of 
God has been in all the past? That is your 
problem. 

Now, God help us to keep our minds steadily 
on it for twenty minutes. How shall we obtain 
the power of the Holy Ghost in order to face 
the task which has been revealed to us during 
these meetings? That is the question. How 
shall we obtain now the power of the Holy 
Ghost so that we shall go back and achieve? 
That is the question. 

Now, brothers, the Holy Ghost is here, and 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 389 

the Holy Ghost is in our lives now. Let us settle 
this. We don't need to pray tonight, 

"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, 
With all thy quickening power. ' 7 

He has come. He is now in your life at this 
moment. Yes, tonight, here. You say, "I don't 
feel it." That does not matter whether you 
feel it or not. You say you are not worthy of 
it. That does not matter at all. The Holy 
Ghost is in your heart now, whether you feel 
it or not, or deserve it or not. The same Spirit 
that indwelt Paul is in you. 

Now, brother, let us not take that back. We 
must believe it. "Beceived ye the Spirit by the 
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith!" 
Faith is the instinct that relates us to the eter- 
nal world, and it is sheer faith now that links 
us on to the great fact of the indwelling pres- 
ence of the Holy Ghost. Oh, that He might 
bring it home to you and me now, just at this 
living moment, that He is in us, that we do 
not need to feel His presence in us in order to 
know; we do not need to earn His presence. 
It is because we are the children of God. That. 
too, is the greatest fact in our lives. There 
is a great fact in sin ; we are sinners ; all that 
is a terrible reality, but, thank God! it is not 
the greatest reality. No. Nor is our ignorance, 
nor our weakness ; no. The greatest fact at 
this moment in your life and mine is, that we 
are indwelt at this moment by the power of 



390 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the Holy Ghost. That is the greatest thing in 
your life. Not your feelings, not your atti- 
tudes ; not your symptoms ; not your sins ; but 
the indwelling presence of the power that was 
in the life of our blessed Lord and Master, Jesus 
Christ. 

But it is one thing to possess the Spirit and 
it is quite another thing for the Spirit to pos- 
sess us. That is the question. It is like the 
difference between the ship in the dock and a 
ship on the sea. A ship in the dock is not in 
its element; it is waiting for its cargo. Its 
place is in the sea. And there are men here 
tonight who have the Holy Ghost in their life, 
but the Holy Ghost does not possess them. It 
is only when the Holy Ghost masters us, when 
we are the servants and He is the Master, that 
we can possibly achieve. He is ready to do it 
now ; He is waiting for His opportunity to take 
possession of your life and mine entirely. 

That is the second question. Does the Holy 
Spirit wholly possess us? Does He? Now the 
question arises, if so, how may the Holy Spirit 
possess us entire? How may the Divine Spirit 
become Master of the entire inner situation in 
our life? How? I will tell you how. He comes 
in on the next thought in your mind, into full 
possession. The next thought that you think 
can be the hour of the Holy Ghost into the trend 
of your personality — the next thought. Just 
let Him grip that thought of yours; let Him 
concentrate your mind from woolgathering — 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 391 

not tomorrow when you get home — now, at this 
moment, let the Holy Ghost grip your mind. 
The first thing the Holy Spirit of God does 
when He grips a man is to concentrate his mind. 
Show me the man who has mental concentra- 
tion ; I will show you a man who is strong men- 
tally. I do not care what rapture he may have ; 
I don't care how long he may pray; if he has 
not the power of mental concentration, he has 
lacked the Holy Ghost; put it away back into 
the last place in his life. Because the first thing 
the Spirit does, insists on, is that a man shall tie 
his mind down to what the Holy Ghost wants. 
That is the first thing. That is the test as to 
whether I am willing to have the Divine Spirit 
pass from being in back of my life, to having 
the entire charge of my life. Am I willing to 
concentrate on what He is willing for me to 
think now? 

It is an easy thing for a man to sit here to- 
night and say, "I am going to be a different 
man when I get home. ' ' That will not do. You 
must be a different man now, this moment. The 
Holy Spirit insists upon first gripping the little 
things in life, not the big things. When you 
light a fire, you don't put a match to the coal, 
nor to the wood, but to the paper, and the paper 
ignites the wood and the wood the coal; and 
that is how the Holy Spirit acts in a man's life. 
He takes the passing thought now, and that 
passing thought now takes what is back of it 
and so on until the life is gripped by a flame 



392 THE PBESBYTERIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

of Divine fire. Will you let him do it? Now? 
How sanguine we are about the future. How 
sanguine about what we are going to do to- 
morrow. Oh, my brothers, it is the eternal now 
with the Holy Ghost. 

How may I enter into the fulness of the 
Spirit? By the concentration of my mind at 
this moment upon His will now. And further, 
by the relinquishing of my will. There are 
certain things we seek to lay hold on in our 
own lives ourselves. For example, Jacob was 
a man haunted by religion. He had visions 
of angels ascending and descending. He went 
on for twenty years a successful merchant, but 
the Holy Ghost had not a grip on Jacob's life; 
he was hedging, but God did not master the 
man. When he came home to meet his brother, 
that night, under the Syrian stars, when he sent 
his family across the river, he wrestled until 
the breaking of the day; and that man rose a 
new man at the breaking of the day; a new 
man, after twenty years of eluding God. So 
we elude God. 

He wants a grip of the whole life, present, 
past and future. Can we risk giving our lives 
to the Holy Ghost to-night? Can we trust our 
whole future? That is the difference between 
spiritual enthusiasm and faith. The atheist is 
not a man who denies the existence of God 
merely ; the spiritual atheist is the man who is 
unwilling to commit his life to the government 
and guidance of the Divine Spirit ; that is athe- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 393 

ism. We enter into the fulness of the spiritual 
life when we are able to surrender our life to 
the Spirit. That is not a difficult thing to do, 
but a difficult thing to make up our minds to 
do. If a man is hanging by a rope over a preci- 
pice it is hard to make up his mind to let go 
the rope. That is just the position to-night. 
It is not hard to do, but can you do it, mentally? 
You have seen a man's face almost convulsed 
as you saw the outworkings of an agony within 
him; then he said, "I will settle it." In that 
crisis, which Eobert Browning so constantly 
depicts in his poems, that five minutes, in quick 
double time can man change in his character by 
act of divine resolution or confession; that is 
the hour in which the Spirit of God grips a man 
for all his days. In that five minutes you can 
live a year — in five minutes, when a man makes 
up his mind to go out under the guidance of 
the Holy Ghost. There must be the surrender 
of the whole of our life to the Spirit. 

These are the two things, it seems to me, 
friends, that lift us from having the Spirit to 
the Spirit having us — the surrender of the next 
thought, and the surrender of the outworks of 
life. Let God drive us where He will. That 
is faith. Shall we do it? Shall we do it now? 

But, third, how shall we retain the power 
of the Holy Spirit? How shall we possess the 
Holy Spirit when we get home ? Or how, rather, 
shall the Holy Spirit possess us when we get 
home? It is all right here, but when we get 



394 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

back into the cars? First of all, brothers, He 
shall conquer us when we get home if we let 
Him conquer us on our way home. And the 
first thing God does when He grips a man is 
to bridle his tongue. God forbid I should be 
censorious of my brother. I say, when we leave 
a convention, one way by which we lose the 
power of the Holy Ghost in our life is when 
we become loquacious, and we talk religious 
gossip instead of listening and waiting, and 
letting the Spirit of God bridle our speech as 
well as our thought. Depend upon it, if you 
let the Divine Spirit grip your life, He will 
keep out of your lips things that you would 
otherwise say. I am not pleading for morose- 
ness, God forbid; the Spirit of God will sweeten 
it a hundredfold; He will bridle your tongue, 
as you go out of the church to-night, if you 
will let Him. After a gathering like this there 
may be a reaction. We know the laws of our 
life ; there are actions and reactions ; and when 
a body of men have been gathered to talk about 
these things, there is an exhaustion, and this 
reaction may take place when you get out of 
the door to-night. The question is, how shall 
I be able to retain the fulness of the power of 
the Holy Ghost in my life in view of the re- 
action that will take place when I leave this 
meeting? How shall I conserve all that has 
come into my life and not lose one atom of holy 
power from the great task that awaits us? That 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 395 

is the question. I answer, by the regulation of 
our speech. 

What else ? By prayer. Prayer is the great 
insulator in the life of a Spirit-possessed man. 
It insulates against loss. I do not mean ask- 
ing things of God. That is not what I mean, 
but that the insulation through prayer is rather 
the contemplation of the Lord Jesus Christ; 
just thinking of Him and letting Him do some 
talking to us. Is it not possible we talk too 
much to God, and don't give Him a chance to 
talk to us? On the way home, as we are tired, 
let us to-night let the living Lord Jesus speak 
to us. He knoweth our frame; He remember- 
eth we are dust. That attitude of quiet rest- 
ing in the Lord Jesus, tired as we are. We 
will insulate the power, and we will not lose a 
drop if we only have the attitude of contempla- 
tive rest in Christ. If you are speaking through 
the telephone to some one who never has a 
chance to answer, you may doubt whether he is 
there. That is why some people may doubt 
whether God is there; they never give Him a 
chance to answer. That is the time when Christ 
would speak to us, after we go from this meet- 
ing to-night. Give him a chance to speak, my 
brother. 

These two thoughts — how shall we go from 
this meeting to our homes, preserving the power 
of the Holy Spirit ? First, by chastened speech ; 
second, by prayer in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
When we are tired at home some kind heart, 



#96 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

who knows the hour of reaction has come to us 
after a weary day, reads to us and it is re- 
freshing. Let the Lord Jesus Christ speak to 
us on the way home. You know there is a 
great temptation for us to seek the point of 
least resistance, and to find our refuge in the 
newspaper, but going from a place like this is 
a perilous moment, and we are running a risk 
if we find our rest in the newspaper. Many 
a man has been led out another door when he 
has given his mind to the reading of a news- 
paper. In going away from here, it is a par- 
ticular moment ; it is a particular attitude. This 
is different from the ordinary life ; we are going 
into a new relation, and when we are going into 
the new relation we must be careful to observe 
laws along which the Divine Spirit operates. 

Fourth, how shall we express the power of 
the Spirit when we get home? Suppose we 
have gone home with the same faith that the 
Divine Spirit is living in us; and we are back 
amid the old scenes, how then? Brothers, I 
believe we shall preserve the power of the Spirit 
when we go home, first of all, by concentrating 
our minds upon the fact that we have the Spirit, 
rather than concentrating our minds upon dif- 
ferences between what we find here and there. 
Sometimes a man surrenders to the colder at- 
mosphere ; he is tempted to give his personality 
into the conditions, and like Samson of old, he 
is bound with cords. When we go home, let 
us remember the triumphant fact that no mat- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 397 

ter how chilly the atmosphere is, the great dom- 
inant fact is that the Holy Ghost is in us, the 
same Spirit that filled Paul ; that is the supreme 
fact. You will be tempted when you go home, 
perhaps, to tamely and weakly surrender to 
that atmosphere. When you do that you have 
lost your battle and you have lost your testi- 
mony. Or, you may be tempted when you go 
home to assume a superior air, a kind of con- 
tempt for the other man, a contempt for his 
ignorance. Brothers, let us remember that 
pride is a non-conductor to power, a great bar- 
rier that is fatal to the outworking of the Holy 
Ghost in any community. We shall be tempted 
when we get home to become impatient if things 
do not go our way quickly. I can hear a man 
say, "I thought this was all coming out this 
week, when I came back from St. Louis ; but I 
guess I am not the man; I will drop it." The 
spirit of God has a program for your life and 
mine. At home there is not an hour in our life 
in which the Spirit of God is not making over- 
tures to us. The Spirit of God is making over- 
tures to you now, if you will but listen to Him. 
He speaks continually in a man's life. There 
is not a moment of our waking existence in 
which the Spirit of God is not making over- 
tures in a life. But He emphasizes the near 
thing ; we are tempted to think of the far things. 
Remember, the Spirit of God is the spirit of 
order and exactness. We cannot play tricks 
with the Holy Ghost; He is as full of law as 



398 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

the natural world is full of law. You cannot 
get steam until the temperature is at the exact 
point. You cannot get ice until the tempera- 
ture is just there ; and the Holy Ghost marches 
with exactitude. I am not talking Puritanism, 
I am talking biology. The Spirit of God is the 
spirit of spiritual biology with an exactitude; 
the law in the spiritual life that is immutable. 
Don't blame me, I am just trying to discover 
the laws of the Holy Ghost; I am not dogma- 
tizing ; it is the Spirit who is the dogmatist. If 
a biologist unfolds to us the laws of biology, 
he is not dogmatic ; he is simply revealing truth. 
The Holy Spirit emphasizes the near things 
first. What does He want when we leave this 
room and take the train tonight and tomorrow? 
Brothers, I tell you He wants you and me to 
be at our best when we go home. Eemember, 
there is a certain sensitive attitude on the part 
of those who are home; they have a mental 
picture of what we should be when we get home. 
God forbid they should be disappointed if that 
mental picture should not be realized. God 
forbid that it should be the old time attitude; 
perhaps a habit that has not been wholly broken. 
Before we can be our best at home we must 
have a margin of time for prayer and study of 
the Bible. You cannot have your real soul to 
breakfast without that margin of time. I know 
how hard it is to get that margin, to get that 
time. The temptation to get down to the let- 
ters, get down to the breakfast, and to say, 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 399 

"Well, another time." The battle field of our 
day is in that margin of time in the morning; 
for our prayer and Bible study are the guaran- 
tee of our being at our best when we get down 
stairs ; and it is that being at our best that the 
Holy Ghost is looking for, an atmosphere of 
dependent spirituality in our home life. Not 
that we have to be conscious of exerting an in- 
fluence. There is something sickly about a man 
trying to make an impression at home after a 
conference. It is too sweet, it is sickening. The 
only way is to live the life in His atmosphere. 
Atmosphere is a by-product of living, and that 
by-product is in the keeping of the Holy Ghost. 
On the locomotive the stoker attends to the fire, 
the engineer attends to the by-product — steam. 
We are the stokers, we attend to the living — 
the Bible Study, the prayer of obedience; and 
then we will be developing the by-products of 
atmosphere which the Holy Ghost will take in 
charge in your home and mine; and we don't 
need to worry about it. And it is as unavoid- 
able as the sunrise itself, a part of the mathe- 
matics of the divine life; and you cannot get 
away from it, my brother, you cannot get away 
from it. You cannot hide near the Spirit of 
the living God; He submits to no tricks. Yes, 
that is the first thing I believe the Spirit asks, 
that we create through living, a sweeter atmos- 
phere at home. 

Then the Spirit of God is continually insist- 
ing upon two things that are in the forefront 



400 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

of the life of Jesus Christ, after that, after we 
are right at home. He discovered the value of 
the individual soul and the power of prayer; 
these are the two things Jesus discovered — the 
individual soul and its value, and what can be 
achieved by prayer. That is what we are to 
be led back by the Spirit of God to do. Eead 
right through the Acts and see how many peo- 
ple the Spirit of God led to do individual work. 
Intercessory prayer will be about the first thing 
you will do after you live that life, and by the 
Spirit of God create that atmosphere at home. 
Praying definitely for other people. The death 
of all prayer is indefiniteness. Indefinite prayer 
tends to absolute impotence. Let us have one 
life for whom we pray and personal conversion 
will follow. It was by personal prayer that 
Christianity grew. For three centuries the 
Church of Christ went like a flaming seraph 
through the world. If this company tonight 
would simply vow before God we shall speak 
to others about Christ fearlessly, there would 
be a national awakening tomorrow morning. I 
speak the words of soberness and truth. What 
else would happen? We would be committed 
to a holier life. Let us speak tomorrow to some 
of the men in our town about the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and that very stand will help us be 
holier men right off. We cannot say the things 
or have the attitude we have assumed after we 
have nailed the colors to the mast. Because 
they never told anybody about it, there are vast 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 401 

numbers of men who used to sing "Oh, happy 
day that fixed my choice," who have lost the 
assurance. You will get it back if you will tell 
others about it. It is only as we testify, we 
love. 

That intercessory prayer; that dealing with 
individuals. What then? That will lead us in- 
evitably to our larger program. The Holy 
Ghost has a large program for every man here 
if you take it His way ; and the light will break 
upon us, light after light, peak after peak, 
height after height, until we are lost in the 
ineffable glory of God. 

Let us pray. Let us pray in silence for a 
moment. 

Lord Jesus, we surrender to the Holy Spirit 
who is in us. We would let Him now, in the 
attitude of mental concentration, we would let 
Him now take our minds, our whole mind, and 
we would take our hands off the future, and 
we would study to be quiet. And we would go 
resting in thy love, Lord Jesus, that love that 
forgives, and that love that strengthens, that 
love that is a communion all the way. Holy 
Ghost, give us grace to concentrate our minds 
upon thy law and to give our tongues into thy 
keeping and all the future. Bless our dear ones 
at home. Bless our beloved ministers and fel- 
low workers in the Brotherhood. Oh, gracious 
God ; may they not be disappointed in us when 
we go back carrying heavy burdens, waiting 
for the man of power, the man of hopefulness, 



402 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BEOTHEEHOOD 

the man of God. Oh, Spirit of God, that we 
may be that man. We may. We believe we 
shall, because thou hast the right of way in 
our lives. For the Glory of Christ, for the 
coming of the Kingdom. AMEN. 



APPENDIX 



PROGRAM OF THE CONVENTION. 



Director of Music — Mr. Erskine Reed, of 
St. Louis. 
Assisted by Mr. J. A. Hubbard, of St. Louis. 
Organist — Mr. Paul J. Bierman, of St. Louis, 

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 21. 

Charles S. Holt, Chicago, Presiding. 

2 :30 — Devotional Address : The Brotherhood 
of the Body of Christ. Rev. William Hiram 
Foulkes, D. D., Portland, Ore. 

In memory of our brethren departed. 

John H. Converse, member of National Coun- 
cil, 1906-1910. 

James W. Axtell, member of National Coun- 
cil, 1907-1910. 

Henry E. Rosevear, Secretary, 1908-1909. 

Prayer by Rev. Harris H. Gregg, D. D., St. 
Louis, Mo. Hymn No. 12, "For all the Saints 
who from their labors rest." 

3 :00 — Communion Service. In charge of Rev. 
Charles Little, D. D., Wabash, Ind., Moderator 
of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church; Assisted by Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, 

405 



406 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

D.D., LL.D.; Eev. Baxter P. Fullerton, D. D., 
LL.D. ; Eev. J. F. Cannon, D. D., ex-moderators, 
of St. Louis, Mo. 

TUESDAY EVENING. 

7 :45 — Song Service and Devotion. 

8 :00— The Men and Eeligion Forward Move- 
ment. Eev. Clarence A. Barbour, D. D., New 
York. 

8:45 — The Brotherhood and Individual Ee- 
sponsibility in the Church. Eev. Maitland 
Alexander, D. D., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22. 

9 :00 — Prayer and Praise. 

9:05 — Business Session. Appointment of 
Committees. Eeport of National Council. 

9:45 — Eound Table Conference on "Things 
Accomplished." Conducted by Eev. Ira Land- 
rith, D. D., Nashville, Tenn. (Personal testi- 
mony on the work the Brotherhood has done, 
after which the subject will be open for ques- 
tion and discussion from the floor.) 

11 :00 — Men and the Kingdom. Eev. James I. 
Vance, D. D., Nashville, Tenn. (With special 
reference to the Men and Eeligion Forward 
Movement.) 

11 :30— The Brotherhood and the Bible. Prof. 
Charles E. Erdman, D. D., Princeton Theologi- 
cal Seminary, Princeton, N. J. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 407 



WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 



2 :00 — Devotional Service. 

2:05 — The Distinctive Truth of Christianity. 
Eev. Andrew V. V. Raymond, D. D., Buffalo, 
N. Y. 

2 :45 — The Errand of America. Rev. James 
D. Rankin, D. D., Moderator of the General As- 
sembly of the United Presbyterian Church, Wil- 
kinsburg, Pa. 

3:30 — Open Conference on the Men and Re- 
ligion Forward Movement. Conducted by 
Judge Selden P. Spencer, St. Louis, Mo. (This 
conference will be open for free discussion and 
will help to relate the Brotherhood vitally to 
this Movement.) 

4:30 — Prayer and Intercession for the Men 
and Religion Forward Movement, under the di- 
rection of Rev. John Timothy Stone, D. D., 
Chicago, 111. 

WEDNESDAY EVENING. 

Coliseum, 7:45 o'clock. 

James J. Parks, St. Louis, Presiding. 
Song and Prayer. 

Address : The Fruits of the Tree. Hon. 
William Jennings Bryan, Lincoln, Neb. 

THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 23. 

9 :00 — Prayer and Devotion. 
9:05 — Business Session. Reports of Com- 
mittees. Election of Officers. 



408 ™ E PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

9 :50— The Boy Problem. Mr. Eugene C. Fos- 
ter, Detroit, Mich. 

10:20— Bound Table Conference on "Broth- 
erhood Ideals." Conducted by Eev. W. A. 
Jones, D. D., Pittsburgh, Pa. (The work the 
Brotherhood should do and how to do it; fol- 
lowing short addresses, the question will be 
open for discussion from the floor.) 

11 :15— The Life That Wins. Mr. Charles G. 
Trumbull, Philadelphia, Pa. (Followed by 
prayer and intercession led by Mr. Trumbull.) 

THURSDAY AFTERNOON. 

» - | — r ~ f """ • 

2:00 — Prayer and Praise. 

2:05 — The Farmers' Club in the Country 
Church. Warren H. Wilson, Ph.D., New York. 

2:40 — The Missionary Appeal. Eev. A. W. 
Halsey, D. D., Secretary of the Board of For- 
eign Missions, New York. 

3:15 — Symposium on " Present-Day Prob 
lems." Conducted by Mr. Thomas E. Hodges, 
President-elect, University of West Virginia, 
Morgantown, W. Va. 

1. Religion in the Home. Prof. Charles E. 
Erdman, D. D., Princeton, N. J. 

2. The Brotherhood and the Laboring 
Man. James J. Phillis, Coraopolis, Pa. 

3. The Place of the Church in the Life of 
the Community. Eev. George E. Eaitt, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 409 

4 :30 — Harvesting the Eesults of the Conven- 
tion. Nolan Rice Best, New York. 

THURSDAY EVENING. 

7 :45 — Song and Prayer. 

8:00 — Christian Civilization. Gov. Chase S. 
Osborn, Lansing, Mich. 

8:45 — The Conversion of Power into Work. 
Rev. John Douglas Adam, D. D., East Orange, 
N. J. : i *«fr! !] i|i 



MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION. 

The Fourth National Convention of the 
Presbyterian Brotherhood of America was held 
in St. Louis, Mo., February 21, 22, 23, 1911. 
The sessions were held in the Washington and 
Compton Avenue Presbyterian Church, Eev. 
Harris H. Gregg, D. D., pastor, with the excep- 
tion of the public meeting on Wednesday eve- 
ning, February 22, which was held in the 
Coliseum. 

LOCAL PREPARATION. 

The local committees appointed to have 
charge of the Convention were as follows : 

James J. Parks, Chairman Executive Committee. 
J. W. Happel, Treasurer. 

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE. 

J. M. Patterson, Chairman. W. P. Robertson. 

G. T. Coxhead. George Harkness. 

W. D. Trueblood. H. C. Mauze. 

J. Clark Streett. J. A. Parker. 

ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE. 

T. H. Cobbs, Chairman. A. M. Finlay. 

F. E. Andrews. Breckenridge Long. 

Stewart Scott. George W. Jones. 
A. N. Edwards. 

ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 

Charles C. Nicholls, Chairman. E. II. Semple. 
C. R. McAllister. W. R. Compton. 

W. R. Johnson. J. M. Wood. 

A. H. Frederick. 

410 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 41 1 

FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

L. F. Smith, Chairman. J. P. Keyes. 

J. T. Templeton. E. W. Douglas. 

O. P. Blake. A. S. Partridge. 
C. S. Blood. 

RECEPTION COMMITTEE. 

J. I. McClelland, Chairman. C. H. Flach. 

C. J. Free. W. Scott Hancock. 

H. E, Marlatt. C. H. McClure. 

Frank E. Meyer. Dr. E. E. Vaughan. 

EEGISTEATION COMMITTEE. 

George B. Cummings, M. Bogard. 

Chairman. A. W. Behfeldt. 

G. D. Barnes. C. H. Maschmeier. 

G. D. Burkholder. A. E. Glass. 
C. H. Hall. 

TEANSPOETATION COMMITTEE. 

Alexander Hilton, Chairman. W. H. Brill. 
W. H. Bissland. E. B. Cowles. 

J. W. Happel. 

PASTOES' CO-OPEEATIVE COMMITTEE. 

Eev. J. L. Eoemer, D. D. ; Eev. Merle H. Anderson, D. D. 

Chairman. Eev. E. N. Orr. 

Eev. H. H. Gregg, D. D. Eev. C. M. Bauch. 

Eev. J. L. Mauze, D. D. Eev. Jerrie Johnson. 
Eev. W. F. McMillan. 

The amount of money raised by the local com- 
mittee was $2,500. In addition to this, this com- 
mittee provided the meeting place for the Con- 
vention, and the Coliseum building for the 
Wednesday evening meeting. The publishing 
of 30,000 copies of the "Convention Herald," 
the official bulletin of the Convention, was in 
the hands of this committee. 



412 THE PKESBYTEBIAN BKOTHEEHOOD 

CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS. 

The sessions of the Convention were presided 
over by Charles S. Holt, its president, with the 
single exception of the public meeting in the 
Coliseum, on which occasion Mr. James J. 
Parks, Chairman of the local Executive Com- 
mittee, presided. 

Mr. J. A. Parker, Secretary of the local 
Brotherhood Union, was appointed Recording 
Secretary of the Convention. 

Mr. E. B. Wilson, of Indianapolis, presented 
the following resolution, which was passed by 
the Convention at its first session : 

Resolved, That the following committees be 
appointed by the Chair : 

1st, a Committee of fifteen on Business, to 
whom shall be referred without debate all reso- 
lutions offered, and all proposals affecting the 
business or policy of the Brotherhood, except 
such as may be considered by the Convention 
by unanimous consent. This Committee shall 
report at the business session on Thursday fore- 
noon upon all matters referred to it so far as 
practicable. 

2nd, a Committee of fifteen on Nominations, 
to recommend candidates for vacancies in the 
Council. 

3rd, a Committee of seven on Correspond- 
ence, to consider communications received from 
other bodies and from individuals and to make 
suitable reply thereto. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 413 

In accordance with this resolution the Presi- 
dent appointed the following committees : 

BUSINESS COMMITTEE. 

Frank M. Robinson, Kansas City, Mo. (Chairman.) 

J. H. Jefferis, Philadelphia, Pa. 

William A. Peterson, Chicago, 111. 

E. C. Brownell, Topeka, Kan. 

Rev. Albert Evans, Loekport, N. Y. 

A. T. Folsom, Lincoln, Neb. 

Rev. W. M. Hindman, D. D., Chillicothe, Ohio. 

J. H. Tobias, Altoona, Pa. 

W. R. Compton, St. Louis, Mo. 

P. S. Livermore, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Rev. R. C. Dobson, Highland Park, 111. 

George T. Coxhead, St. Louis, Mo. 

R. B. Wilson, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Samuel P. Mead, New York City, N. Y. 

E. C. Phillips, Middletown, Ohio. 

NOMINATING COMMITTEE. 

E. H, Semple, St. Louis, Mo. (Chairman.) 

W. F. Dalzell, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Judge S. S. Anderson, Charleston, 111. 

Eev. W. F. Weir, D. D., Ashtabula, Ohio. 

Sidney Whittemore, New York City, N. Y. 

Rev. C. J. McConnell, Superior, Wis. 

James R. Smart, Evanston, 111. 

N. R. Adriance, St. Joseph, Mo. 

J. W. Morrison, Frankford, Ind. 

C. F. Stark, St. Louis, Mo. 

A. G. Butler, Philadelphia, Pa, 

Robert E. Ross, Chicago, 111. 

Rev. C. E. Hays, Decatur, 111. 

John Grant, Cleveland, Ohio. 

E. C. Oakley, Minneapolis, Minn. 

CORRESPONDENCE COMMITTEE. 

Carl H. MeClure, St. Louis, Mo. (Chairman.) 

W. Scott Hancock, St. Louis, Mo. 

Rev. C. Y. Richard, Sterling, 111. 

Sam Stewart, Jr., Kansas City, Kan. 

Prof. A. H. Gilbert, Lexington, Ky. 

C. E. McBride, Mansfield, Ohio. 

Joseph Grindley, Detroit, Mich. 



414 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

The following telegram was received from the 
Brotherhood of Chanceford Presbyterian 
Church, of Woodbine, Pa. : 

Bridgeton, Pa., February 22, 1911. 
The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America, St. Louis, Mo. 

The Brotherhood of the Chanceford Presbyterian Church of 
Woodbine, Pa., now meeting in their first annual banquet, send 
most cordial and fraternal greetings. One is your Master, even 
Christ; all ye are brethren. 

W. W. Keyser, President. 
C. E. Doane, Secretary. 

The following reply was sent in answer to 
this telegram: 

St. Louis, Mo., February 23, 1911. 
W. W. Keyser, President, Bridgeton, Pa. 

Your fraternal greetings received with pleasure by this Con- 
vention. The keynote of this Convention is that the Brother- 
hood of the various churches should constantly keep before 
the membership that Christ is our Master, and we are all 
brothers. 

The following telegram was received from 
Fred B. Smith, Campaign Leader of the Men 
and Religion Forward Movement : 

February 20, 1911. 
Chas. S. Holt, Presbyterian Brotherhood Convention, 
St. Louis, Mo. 
Warmest greetings to the Brotherhood Convention. We are 
deeply solicitous for the Convention's success. Wonderful days 
are ahead of us as these great men's organizations unite in a 
continental campaign. May God 's blessing be with you in every 
session and in all of your planning. Fred B. Smith. 

Also a telegram from First Presbyterian 
Church, of Topeka, Kan. 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 415 

At the session on Wednesday morning, two 
gavels were presented to Mr. Holt, the presid- 
ing officer, one from Bev. J. M. Barkley, D. D., 
of Detroit, Mich., the other from the Presby- 
terian men of St. Louis. The one from Dr. 
Barkley was in remembrance of Mr. Holt's serv- 
ices as Vice Moderator of the General Assem- 
bly of 1909. It was made of Colorado marble, 
the plate being made of Michigan copper, and 
was presented by William R. Farrand, of 
Detroit. 

The second gavel was made of wood from 
four churches in St. Louis — the First Presby- 
terian Church, the oldest church west of the 
Mississippi River; the Grand Avenue Presby- 
terian Church (Presbyterian Church in the 
United States) ; the First United Presbyterian 
Church, and the First Reformed Presbyterian 
Church. The Presbyterian Brotherhood Union 
of St. Louis is composed of the men from these 
four families of the Presbyterian Church, 
hence such a gavel fittingly marked the spirit 
of the Convention. It was presented by James 
J. Parks, of St. Louis. 

At the session on Thursday morning, an ear- 
nest plea on behalf of the Board of Ministerial 
Relief was made by Rev. Alexander H. Young, 
D. D., of Binghamton, N. Y. 

At this session, also, the following reports 
were made by the Convention Committees: — 



416 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Eeport of Nominating Committee. 

To fill the vacancies in the Council caused by 
the death of John H. Converse and J. W. Axtell 
and the resignation of John L. Severance : — 

J. H. Jefferis, Philadelphia, Pa. 
C. L. Brokaw, Kansas City, Kan. 
Foster Copeland, Columbus, Ohio. 

To fill the vacancies in the Council caused by 
expiration of term of office : — 

Hugh H. Hanna, Indianapolis, Ind. 
Ealph W. Harbison, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Charles S. Holt, Chicago, 111. 
A. B. T. Moore, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
William Jennings Bryan, Lincoln, Neb. 
Livingston P. Moore, Chicago, 111. 
Henry P. Crowell, Chicago, 111. 

The report of the Committee was adopted 
and these gentlemen elected to the National 
Council unanimously, the President stating that 
Mr. Bryan had expressed his desire to attend 
such sessions of the Council as he found 
possible. 

REPORT OP THE COMMITTEE OK RESOLUTION'S AND 

BUSINESS. 

The following resolutions were reported and 
recommended by the Committee, and voted 
upon and passed by the Convention: — 

Resolved, That this Convention express its 
hearty approval of the campaign designed for 
men and boys of America, known as the Men 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 417 

and Eeligion Forward Movement, and earnestly 
call upon all state, city and local church Broth- 
erhoods, Bible classes, and affiliated bodies, to 
cooperate with all agencies in their communities 
in furthering this movement for saving men 
and boys to Christ and His Church. 

Whereas, It is evident that God is calling 
men to take a more active part in the work of 
extending the Kingdom of Christ, therefore be it 

Resolved, That our Brotherhood extend 
greetings to all men's organizations of the 
evangelical churches of America, and hereby 
pledge ourselves with them to put forth our 
best effort in forwarding the Men and Eeligion 
Forward Movement. 

Resolved, That whereas the National Council 
needs additional funds to carry on the effect- 
ive work of the organization, and that the bur- 
den of the work shall not fall on a few, but on 
the general membership throughout the coun- 
try, we recommend that each Brotherhood or 
affiliated organization be requested and urged 
to contribute to the treasury of the National 
Council at least 25 cents per annum, for each 
member thereof. 

Resolved, That "The Presbyterian Brother- 
hood," as the official organ of the Brotherhood, 
and as the best instrument for keeping alive 
an intelligent interest in Brotherhood work on 
the part of Brotherhood men, ought to be regu- 



418 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD 

larly received and read by every member. To 
this end, it is recommended that each member 
of the local Brotherhood shall receive one copy 
of the magazine on payment of his annual dues, 
such subscription to be forwarded to the editor 
of the magazine by his treasurer. Also, that as 
soon as resources and circulation will justify, 
it be more frequently published. 

Whereas, The work among the boys and the 
problems arising therefrom, being, in the opin- 
ion of this Convention, of great and ever grow- 
ing importance, therefore be it 

Resolved, That the National Council is au- 
thorized, if its judgment approves, and suffi- 
cient financial assistance is found, to secure the 
services of a man trained in boys' work, or to 
cooperate with other organizations in securing 
such a man, whose duty it shall be to investigate 
the conditions existing that concern and closely 
affect boys and their surroundings. That the 
report of such person on investigation, if made, 
be given by the National Council to our next 
National Convention, to the end that our Broth- 
erhoods may be properly informed and directed 
in their efforts in this needed work. 

Whereas, There being a lamentable neglect 
of family worship in many Christian homes, 
therefore be it 

Resolved, That we earnestly recommend that 
all Presbyterian Brotherhoods make a definite 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 419 

and systematic effort, through a special commit- 
tee or otherwise, to revive and maintain the 
family altar in all homes within their reach. 

Whereas, The work of the Board of Minis- 
terial Belief and Sustenation appeals in a pe- 
culiar way to the laymen of our church, there- 
fore be it 

Resolved, That in giving to this Board our 
strongest sympathy in its blessed mission, we 
suggest that all Brotherhood men do their ut- 
most in the support of its needs. 

Whereas, Through the press of business and 
what we believe to be the thoughtless disregard 
by the public of every man's right to one day 
in seven for rest, the delivery of mail to its 
citizens by this government on the Sabbath has 
become a menace to the proper regard and rev- 
erence for the Lord's Day, therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Presbyterian Brotherhood 
of America express its earnest desire that the 
Postoffice Department may see the wisdom of 
confining its mail deliveries in all cities to six 
days in the week, as far as it is possible to do 
so. 

Resolved, That the selection of the time and 
place for the next National Convention be re- 
ferred to the Council with the recommendation 
that, if the way be clear, the Convention be held 
in New York City during the earlier half of the 
year 1912. 



420 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Appreciating the faithful service, the liberal- 
ity and the consistent Christian example of our 
brother and officer, Hugh H. Hanna, Chairman 
of the Executive Committee of the National 
Council, we wish to express our sincere regret 
that he has been providentially kept away from 
this Convention, and to assure him that we are 
earnestly praying that God will grant to him 
restored health and vigor, that he may have 
more than a full measure of days for continued 
service in His name. 

Mindful of the splendid team work, in which 
our President Holt was a yoke fellow in all 
these things with Chairman Hanna, we sin- 
cerely declare our indebtedness and our grati- 
tude for the great advances made in things ac- 
complished under the leadership of these 
capable men and their faithful coworkers, the 
officers and counsellors and committeemen of 
the national organization. We would also 
pledge to those who are to direct us this coming 
year our sympathy, our energies and our 
prayers. 

Eeport of the Correspondence Committee. 

The following resolutions were presented and 
recommended by the Correspondence Commit- 
tee and were passed by the Convention : — 

Resolved, That this Convention hereby ex- 
presses its thanks to God for the thoughtful, 
devoted addresses that have been delivered be- 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 421 

fore it, and its appreciation and gratitude to the 
many speakers who came to us — some at great 
inconvenience — to give us these messages, which 
we recognize as solemn and responsible instruc- 
tions to our utmost future service. 

Resolved, That this Convention extend its 
hearty thanks to the Brotherhood of St. Louis 
for the many courtesies extended to us during 
our stay here, and that we thus express our ap- 
preciation of the careful management and at- 
tention to detail in handling this Convention so 
successfully, and for the Christian Fellowship 
so generously and uniformly expressed. 

Resolved, That we extend to the Washington 
and Compton Avenue Presbyterian Church our 
thanks for the use of this church as a convenient 
auditorium, and our appreciation of the many 
conveniences placed at our disposal; and that 
we especially appreciate the gift to the dele- 
gates of the Bible Study booklet, "Bightly Di- 
viding the Word of Truth." 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention 
be, and they are hereby tendered to the Century 
Company, for the donation of the hymnals used 
during the Convention. 

Resolved, That it be the sense of this Con- 
vention that we extend our grateful thanks to 
Mr. Erskine Beed, of St. Louis, the leader of 
song throughout the Convention; to the choirs 
of the Tyler Place, Lafayette Park, Second and 



422 THE PEESBYTEEIAjNT BEOTHEEHOOD 

West Presbyterian Churches; to the orchestra 
of the Kingshighway Church ; to the local Y. M. 
C. A. quartette ; and to Miss Beatrice Boberts, 
for their assistance in our services. 

The Committee further reported that all tele- 
grams had been answered in the name of the 
Convention. 

At the session of the Convention on Thurs- 
day, as well as at the meeting in the Coliseum, 
subscriptions were taken from those present 
to carry on the work of the Council for the en- 
suing one or two years as the work should de- 
velop. Statement was made by Mr. Chas. T. 
Thompson, treasurer, of Minneapolis, that thus 
far in the work of the Brotherhood to a very 
great degree, the funds had been subscribed by 
three or four individuals, and in a work of this 
privilege and magnitude all laymen should par- 
ticipate throughout the land. The subscriptions 
at this time amounted to $883.58. 

In explanation of the resolution that a con- 
tribution of twenty-five cents per member be 
asked from each Brotherhood for the work of 
the National Council, Mr. Holt stated that while 
it did not seem best to make a compulsory 
assessment as a condition of affiliation, yet such 
a contribution was imperatively needed to carry 
on the work. Mr. Thompson stated that there 
had been expended for the two years, February 
15, 1909, to 1911, $10,046. Of that amount, 
about $3,000 was raised at the Pittsburgh Con- 
vention — $5,400 was given by five men, the rest 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 403 

came in smaller contributions. It was shown 
that a budget of ten to fourteen thousand dol- 
lars is needed to carry on the work in a proper 
manner. 

Mr. Thompson reported to the Convention 
that the National Council, at its election held 
that day, had elected the following officers : — 

President — Charles S. Holt, Chicago, 111. 

Vice-President — Ealph W. Harbison, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

Chairman Executive Committee — Hugh H. 
Hanna, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Eecording Secretary — William E. Farrand, 
Detroit, Mich. 

Treasurer — Charles T. Thompson, Minneapo- 
lis, Minn. 

Editorial Secretary — Ira Landrith, D. D., 
Nashville, Tenn. 



CONVENTION STATISTICS. 

Eegisteeed Delegates. 

Alabama 4 

Arkansas 9 

Colorado 3 

Florida 1 

Georgia , 1 

Illinois 174 

Indiana 19 

Iowa 15 

Kansas 11 

Kentucky 6 

Louisiana 2 

Michigan 10 

Minnesota 7 

Mississippi 8 

Missouri (outside St. Louis) 133 

St. Louis, Mo 437 

Nebraska 5 

New Jersey 5 

New York 19 

Ohio 27 

Oklahoma 3 

424 



ST. LOUIS CONVENTION 425 

Oregon 1 

Pennsylvania 38 

Tennessee 14 

Texas 9 

Virginia 1 

West Virginia 5 

Wisconsin 6 

Canada 1 

Japan 1 



Total 975 



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